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FROM-THE-  LIBRARY-OF 
TRINITYCOLLEGETORONTO 


PRESENTED 


nev.  Canon  F.H.  Mason 


APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 


APOSTOLIC 
CHRISTIANITY 


NOTES  AND   INFERENCES  MAINLY 

BASED  ON  S.    PAUL'S  EPISTLES 

TO  THE  CORINTHIANS 


BY 


H.    HENSLEY    HENSON,    B.D 

FELLOW   OF  ALL   SOULS*   COLLEGE,    OXFORD 

INCUMBENT     OF    S.     MARY'S     HOSPITAL,     1LFORD 

CHAPLAIN     TO     THE     LORD     BISHOP     OF     S.     ALBAN's 

RURAL   DEAN   OF   SOUTH    BARKING 


METHUEN   &  CO. 

36  ESSEX  STREET,  STRAND 

LONDON 

1898 


JUN 


fe? 


1968 


TO 

ARTHUR   L.   STRIDE,    ESQ.,   J.P. 

THIS   VOLUME    IS    INSCRIBED 

IN  TOKEN 

OF    SINCERE    RESPECT    AND    AFFECTION 

AND    IN    REMEMBRANCE   OF   MANY 

PERSONAL   KINDNESSES 


PREFACE 

charm  of  Apostolic  Christianity  is  unique, 
-1  and  its  importance  supreme.  Partly,  it  may 
not  be  questioned,  the  natural  but  irrational  dis 
position  to  exalt  the  past  at  the  expense  of  the 
present  explains  the  lofty  estimate  of  the  earliest 
Church  which  most  modern  Christians  have  formed, 
and  an  actual  study  of  the  extant  memorials  of  the 
first  century  will,  to  this  extent,  chasten  and  modify 
that  estimate.  Chiefly,  however,  the  interest  of 
thoughtful  men  in  the  first  beginnings  of  the  Divine 
Society  arises  from  a  just  conviction  of  the  solemn 
importance  of  the  subject.  It  is  felt  on  all  hands 
that  the  Christianity  of  history,  and  especially  the 
Christianity  of  contemporary  history,  is  a  very  dif 
ferent  thing  from  the  Christianity  of  the  Apostles : 
there  is  an  uncomfortable  suspicion  in  many  minds 
that  the  proportions  of  the  Faith  have  been  deranged, 
that  the  intrinsically  greater  things  have  fallen  into 
the  background,  and  the  intrinsically  lesser  things 
have  usurped  their  prominence.  The  Church,  the 
Ministry,  the  Sacraments,  the  Creeds — these  have,  in 
many  minds,  seemed  to  crowd  out  of  view  more 
ultimate  and  august  realities ;  and  so  powerful  is 
the  vague,  almost  unconscious,  resentment  of  the 
human  conscience,  that  a  wide  and  ever-widening 
breach  has  silently  discovered  itself  between  religious 


viii          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

men   and   organized   religion.      On    all   hands   it   is 
observable    that    Christian    men    are    quietly    with 
drawing     themselves     from     all     formal     religious 
observances.      They   neither   attend    public   worship 
nor  receive  the  Blessed   Sacrament,  nor   outwardly 
concern  themselves  with  religious  affairs.     It  would 
be  a  grave  error  to  suppose  that  these  people  are  in 
any  definite  way  opposed  to  Christianity.     Most  of 
them  have  a  real  respect  and  admiration   for  Jesus 
Christ,  and  a  vague  but  confident  belief  that  if  only 
religion  were  what  He  intended  it  to  be,  if  only  the 
Church   were   again   what   it   was   in   the   Apostles' 
times,     they     would     eagerly     profess     themselves 
disciples.     During   the   years   that   I   have   lived    in 
East  London  and  "  London  over  the  Border  "  I  have 
often  heard  vehement  denunciations  of  the  Church, 
of  the  clergy,  of  the  Sacraments,  and  of  the  Bible, 
but  I  can  only  recall  a  single  instance  in  which  the 
stream  of  invective  was  directed  against  the  Founder 
of  Christianity,  and  then  it  provoked  very  manifest 
repugnance.      Largely,    it    must    be    admitted,    this 
attitude  is  reflected  and,  by  an   inevitable  reaction, 
stimulated  by  the  so-called  religious  romance  of  the 
day.     Scarcely  anybody  reads  the  New  Testament : 
the    current    notions    about    the    Gospel    and    the 
Apostolic  age  are  largely  based  on  the  productions 
of  Marie    Corelli,   Mr.    Hall   Caine,   and  writers    of 
that   type.      Religious   sentiment    and   emotion   are 
developed  by  a  thousand  devices,  while  the  prevail 
ing  conception  of  contemporary  Christianity  is  often 
a  strange  and  various  product  of  ignorance,  prejudice, 
and  delusion.     Yet  I  cannot  escape  the  conviction 


PREFACE  ix 

that  there  is  a  more  legitimate  foundation  for  the 
deliberate  and  sustained  alienation  of  so  vast  a 
multitude  than  mere  sentiment  on  the  one  hand 
and  mere  mistake  on  the  other. 

The  causes  of  this  quiet  repudiation  of  definite 
external  religious  observance  are  not  altogether 
obscure.  Probably  few  realize  the  gravity  of  the 
fact  that,  through  the  rapid  growth  of  the  cities,  the 
main  stream  of  the  national  life  is  now  running,  with 
an  ever  increasing  volume,  in  urban  channels.  Life 
in  a  great  city  affects  powerfully  and  distinctively 
the  development  of  character.  I  am  far,  indeed, 
from  suggesting  that  the  urban  influence  is  necessarily 
or  even  generally  bad  ;  but  I  am  very  sure  that  in 
certain  directions  that  influence  is  hostile  to  religion. 
The  passion  for  amusement  pathetically  testifies  to 
the  deep  weariness  of  routine,  which  the  city-worker 
chained  from  day  to  day  to  his  office-stool,  or  penned 
behind  his  counter,  feels  so  acutely.  Even  the 
religiously-minded  men  feel  this  revulsion  against 
restraint :  the  mass,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  are 
swept  along  by  it.  The  services  of  Religion  are 
found  too  long  and  too  dull.  Only  on  the  condition 
that  they  become  "bright,"  "popular,"  above  all, 
short,  will  they  be  attended.  The  result  is  disastrous 
on  the  public  worship  and  on  the  preaching.  I  am 
convinced  that  an  unconscious  effort  to  match  the 
tastes  of  the  giddy  and  emotional  urban  folk,  far 
more  than  any  real  religious  conviction  or  any  innate 
bent  towards  anarchy,  lies  at  the  root  of  the  ritual 
eccentricity  which  now  distresses  many  sober-minded 
Churchmen,  and  perplexes  the  Bishops.  It  is  melan- 

A   2 


x  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

choly  to  observe  that  Religion,  which  should  grapple 
with  and  bring  under  discipline  that  frivolity  which 
is  the  inevitable  effect  of  urban  life,  rather  aspires 
to  conciliate  and  use  it. 

The  Decline  of  the  Pulpit  is  not  less  serious. 
Here,  no  doubt,  special  causes  have  contributed. 
The  Oxford  Movement  was  very  largely  a  reaction 
against  the  arid  and  tyrannous  Evangelicalism 
which  oppressed  the  national  conscience  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century.  As  the  Pulpit  had 
been  unduly  magnified  by  the  earlier  movement, 
so  it  was  unduly  minimized  in  the  later.  More 
over,  the  Tractarians  widened  the  area  of  clerical 
interests.  Church  History  was  no  longer  eschewed, 
though  its  study  was  severely  conditioned  by  eccle 
siastical  presuppositions.  Ritualism  opened  a  new 
and  delightful  world  to  the  weaker  members  of  the 
Anglo-Catholic  party.  The  Sermon  was  habitually 
depreciated.  It  was  made  to  symbolize  human  self- 
assertion  as  against  Divine  Grace  :  it  stood'  for 
"Protestantism"  as  against  the  "Catholic  Church." 
It  is  still  the  fashion  in  '''High  Church"  circles  to 
affect  a  great  contempt  for  preaching  :  and  commonly 
the  Sermon  in  "  advanced "  Churches  faithfully  re 
flects  the  humble  theory  which  may  be  supposed 
to  have  governed  its  composition.  It  may  be  held 
for  certain  that  an  excessive  care  for  religious  cere 
mony  is  incompatible  with  a  high  standard  of 
preaching.  The  human  mind  cannot  with  impunity 
multiply  its  interests.  A  close  and  affectionate 
study  of  Ritual  will  leave  little  margin  of  time  or 
mental  power  for  those  critical,  historical,  and  theo- 


PREFACE  xi 

logical  studies  which  are  the  indispensable  conditions 
of  serviceable  preaching  to  modern  congregations. 
A  worthier  obstacle  to  the  Pulpit  has  been  the 
immense  increase  of  parochial  duties.  Whether  this 
increase  is  wholly  satisfactory  may  be  doubted : 
whether  the  time  and  energy  bestowed  on  the  raising 
of  money  for  a  thousand  objects,  in  the  organizing 
of  amusements,  not  always  of  the  highest  kind,  could 
not  be  better  employed,  may  well  be  questioned : 
yet,  at  least,  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  motives 
which  have  led  to  that  distracting  multiplicity  of 
parochial  engagements,  which  threatens  to  make 
pastoral  charge  wholly  incompatible  with  intellectual 
self-respect,  are  high  and  unselfish  motives.  Here 
I  refer  to  the  subject  merely  in  its  bearings  on  the 
lamentable  Decline  of  the  Pulpit,  to  which  I  have 
adverted.  Of  late  years  there  has  been  a  consider 
able  increase  of  "  Home  Missions."  Almost  every 
parish  of  any  size  is  subjected  every  few  years  to 
the  Ordeal  of  a  "  Mission."  The  enormous  demand 
for  preachers  has  induced  many  of  the  more  earnest 
and  eloquent  clergy  to  cultivate  an  emotional  and 
declamatory  type  of  preaching,  which,  though  im 
mediately  effective  and  generally  popular,  is  not  free 
from  very  obvious  and  considerable  perils.  I  think 
there  are  signs  that  the  standard  of  Pulpit  perform 
ance  has  been  appreciably  lowered  by  the  develop 
ment  of  "  Mission  preaching."  Finally,  the  Sermon 
may  have  suffered  by  the  competition  of  the  religious 
newspaper  and  the  religious  book,  though  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  the  readers  of  such  are  not 
generally  the  most  assiduous  auditors  of  Sermons. 


xii  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Personally  I  think  the  influence  of  the  press  has 
been  indirect.  The  best  work  is  now  rarely  put  into 
Sermons :  it  is  reserved  for  publication.  This  is  a 
natural,  but  a  highly  undesirable  practice. 

It  has  often  occurred  to  me  that  there  is  a  con 
nection  between  the  facts  just  stated  and  the  grave 
difficulty  which  is  now  felt  in  obtaining  suitable 
candidates  for  the  Christian  Ministry.  No  doubt 
the  serious  decline  in  clerical  incomes  has  influenced 
parents  in  choosing  careers  for  their  sons ;  but  there 
is  compensation  in  the  thought  that  poverty,  though 
it  may  hinder  some  from  entering  Holy  Orders, 
will  purify  the  motives  of  many  who,  with  the  full 
knowledge  of  the  distresses  that  await  them,  yet 
put  their  hand  to  the  plough  of  the  Divine  Service. 
A  more  serious  loss  is  inflicted  on  the  Church  when 
young  men  of  intellectual  gifts  and  high  character 
turn  away  from  Ordination  because,  under  existing 
circumstances,  they  cannot  hope  for  an  adequate 
sphere  for  the  exercise  of  their  best  powers..  As 
matters  stand  now  a  musical  voice  is  a  better 
recommendation  than  academic  distinction,  a  know 
ledge  of  athletics  and  theatricals  outweighs  habits 
of  intellectual  industry,  and  a  solemn  sense  of  the 
awfulness  of  religion.  If  indeed  it  be  the  case  that 
the  Church  has  no  use  for  the  higher  gifts  of  mind 
and  character,  then  it  is  nothing  astonishing  that 
her  Ministry  has  little  attraction  for  the  gifted  and 
devout.  The  higher  the  standard  of  Ministerial  Duty 
the  more  attractive  will  the  Ministerial  Life  be 
found :  but  no  thoughtful  and  earnest  man  can 
readily  accept  a  career,  of  which  the  principal  tasks 
will  be  purely  mechanical. 


PREFACE  xiii 

However  this  may  be,  the  broad  fact  now  stares 
the  clergyman  in  the  face  that  his  principal  instru 
ment  of  teaching  is  breaking  in  his  hands ;  the 
Pulpit  seems  to  be  discredited  in  the  general  mind, 
it  is  certainly  ignored  in  the  general  practice. 
Therefore  since  teaching  has  always  been  and  must 
remain  the  chiefest  function  of  the  Christian  Ministry, 
the  clergyman  is  driven  to  adopt  various  expedients 
by  which  to  recover  some  opportunities  for  fulfilling 
his  duty.  Informal  lectures,  books  written  in  a 
sufficiently  popular  style  to  secure  the  interest  of 
average  men,  private  conferences  of  one  sort  or 
another  —  these  and  similar  methods  are  resorted 
to  as  substitutes  for  the  Sermon. 

These  pages  represent  one  modest  attempt  to 
bring  before  laymen  in  their  homes  subjects  which 
had  been  better  treated  in  Sermons,  but  which,  since 
they  will  neither  listen  to  Sermons  nor  read  them, 
must  be  treated  otherwise  or  not  at  all. 

Urban  life  not  only  stimulates  a  passion  for 
amusement,  it  also  directly  ministers  to  the  cynical, 
sceptical  disposition,  which,  not  less  than  frivolity, 
obstructs  the  way  of  Religion.  English  people  of 
the  middle  and  lower  classes,  so  far  as  I  have 
observed,  are  not  as  a  general  rule  well  disposed 
towards  definite  infidelity ;  but  they  seem  to  be 
falling  into  a  vague  unbelief,  which  does  not  care 
enough  about  spiritual  things  to  positively  contradict, 
but  which  tacitly  rejects  the  teachings  of  the  Gospel. 
There  is  a  widely-extended  distrust  of  the  good  faith 
of  the  clergy  in  matters  of  Religion.  It  is  thought 
that  language  is  used  in  the  pulpit  which  does  not 


xiv  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

correspond  with  any  actual  convictions.  The  de 
structive  aspects  of  Biblical  criticism  are  becoming 
generally  known,  and  something  like  contempt  is 
not  rarely  expressed  at  the  unrelaxed  hold  on  the 
least  defensible  views  which  the  clergy,  in  too  many 
cases,  display.  With  this  contempt  it  is  difficult  not 
to  feel  a  measure  of  sympathy.  The  timidity  of  the 
clergy  scarcely  respects  the  boundaries  of  Christian 
principle  when  it  insists  on  ignoring  the  conclusions 
of  Biblical  Science.  The  manly  attitude  of  S.  Paul 
condemns  such  nervous  dishonesty  : — "  Therefore 
seeing  we  have  this  Ministry,  even  as  we  obtained 
mercy,  we  faint  not ;  but  we  have  renounced  the 
hidden  things  of  shame,  not  walking  in  craftiness, 
nor  handling  the  Word  of  God  deceitfully;  but 
by  the  manifestation  of  the  truth  commending 
ourselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight 
of  God."* 

The  most  urgent  necessity  of  the  present  juncture 
seems  to  be  the  recovery  of  public  confidence  in-  the 
clergy.  As  one  step,  and  a  considerable  one  towards 
that  end,  I  have  urged,  as  well  by  example  as  by 
precept,  the  general  adoption  of  the  Revised  Version 
in  the  public  services  of  the  Church.  Without  deny 
ing  or  minimizing  the  faults  of  that  Version,  I  submit 
as  an  absolutely  incontrovertible  proposition,  that  for 
all  the  purposes  which  a  Version  of  the  Bible  exists 
to  serve,  it  is  the  best  Version  in  existence.  To  go 
on  using  an  inferior  Version,  when  a  superior  is 
accessible,  is  not  in  my  deliberate  judgment  to  be 
reconciled  with  pastoral  integrity.  I  need  say  no 
*  2  Cor.  iv.  r,  2. 


PREFACE  xv 

more  to  explain  my  use  of  the  Revised  Version  in 
this  volume. 

Urban  life,  it  must  be  added,  tends  always  towards 
sensuality.  In  the  first  century  this  was  certainly 
the  case ;  by  many  melancholy  and  scandalous 
tokens  we  know  that  in  this  respect  the  nineteenth 
century  can  claim  no  exemption  from  the  same 
burden.  Personally  I  am  convinced  that  the  most 
formidable  obstacle  to  Christianity  at  this  moment 
is  the  wasting  and  furtive  viciousness  which,  in  many 
forms,  corrupts  our  city  population.  Drunkenness 
is  a  lesser  evil  than  sensuality ;  it  is  neither  so 
degrading  to  the  character,  nor  so  deadening  to  the 
soul.  Weizacker  speaks  of  "  the  gigantic  war  which 
Christendom  in  general,  and  Paul  in  particular,  had 
to  wage  with  immorality."  The  same  formula  might 
be  employed  to  express  the  duty  of  the  modern 
Church.  Unhappily  it  does  not  express  the  actual 
procedure  of  the  Church  as  a  whole. 

Frivolity,  cynical  scepticism,  sensuality  —  these 
notes  of  urban  life  are  always  recognizable.  Two 
millenniums  of  Christianity  have  not  altered  the 
inveterate  characteristics  of  great  cities.  Apostolic 
Christianity — as  Professor  Ramsay  has  reminded  us — 
was  almost  exclusively  urban.  Hence  the  study  at 
every  point  suggests  parallels  to  contemporary  ex 
perience,  and  it  is  literally  true  to  say  that  the  least 
archaic  period  of  ecclesiastical  history  is  the  most 
remote. 

The  Apostolic  Age  has  been  of  late  years  made 
known  to  us  by  the  labours  of  many  brilliant  and 
indefatigable  students,  The  effect  of  their  work  is 


xvi  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

a  new  revelation.  The  first  beginnings  of  Christianity 
are  now  understood,  as  they  have  never  been  under 
stood  before.  The  conflict  of  the  critics  over  the 
documents  has  incidentally  brought  together  a  mass 
of  information  about  the  first  century,  which  enables 
the  English  student  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century  to  appreciate  the  standpoints  and  sympathize 
with  the  difficulties  of  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem 
and  Corinth,  to  whom  the  Apostles  preached. 
Unhappily  the  rank  and  file  of  English  Churchmen 
are  still  suspicious  and  fearful  of  the  new  knowledge. 
They  read  their  New  Testament,  or  neglect  to  read 
it,  with  the  paramount  conviction  that  it  is  all  a 
solemn  and  blessed  miracle,  which  has  no  real  con 
nection  with  actual,  normal  human  experience.  To 
such  I  respectfully  address  this  volume.  The  history 
of  its  origin  is  briefly  this.  I  read  the  Corinthian 
Epistles  with  classes  of  men  both  in  Barking  and 
in  Ilford,  and  found  it  serviceable  to  put  together 
into  separate  addresses  the  leading  subjects  dealt 
with  by  the  Apostle.  These  were  found  helpful, 
and  I  was  urged  by  many,  both  laymen  and  clergy 
(to  whom  my  notes  were  submitted),  to  bring  the 
whole  into  connected  form  and  publish  it.  This 
account  of  the  origin  of  this  book  will,  perhaps, 
go  some  way  towards  explaining  some  sufficiently 
obvious  faults  of  arrangement  and  style. 

This  volume,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  explain, 
is  not  addressed  to  scholars,  nor  does  it  attempt 
an  exact  or  continuous  interpretation  of  the  Corin 
thian  Epistles,  on  which,  nevertheless,  it  may  be 
called  in  some  sense  a  commentary.  I  have  through- 


PREFACE  xvil 

out  endeavoured  to  be  honest  and  clear,  not  greatly 
regarding  a  certain  looseness  of  arrangement  if  only 
the  broad  outlines  of  the  subject  could  be  plainly 
marked.  I  have  not  scrupled  to  draw  practical 
inferences ;  and  though  I  have  tried  not  to  read  into 
the  first  century  the  ideas  of  the  nineteenth,  yet  I 
have  everywhere  assumed  the  continuity  of  eccle 
siastical  life. 

I  fear  that  repetition  has  not  been  as  successfully 
avoided  as  I  could  wish.  Partly  this  arises  from  the 
circumstance  that  the  first  four  chapters  were 
originally  composed  as  a  thesis  independently  of  the 
rest  of  the  book,  which,  as  I  have  said,  was  in  the 
first  instance  designed  for  public  delivery.  This  also 
may  explain  a  certain  difference  of  style. 

References  have  only  been  given  when  it  seemed 
to  me  desirable  to  indicate  to  the  reader  either  the 
authority  for  an  opinion  which  might  seem  novel, 
or  the  direction  in  which  fuller  information  might 
be  obtained.  I  have  given  the  Greek  text  of  quota 
tions  from  the  New  Testament  wherever  it  seemed 
to  me  that  anything  turned  upon  an  exact  rendering 
of  the  original.  Histories  of  the  Apostolic  Age 
abound,  and  there  are  numerous  commentaries  on 
the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians.  Many  of  these  I 
have  used. 

It  will  be  manifest  on  every  page  how  much  I  owe 
to  the  works  of  Re*nan,  Weizacker,  Godet,  Ramsay, 
Hort,  and  Bishop  Lightfoot.  Perhaps  I  may  be 
permitted  to  make  special  mention  of  two  authors — 
the  one  a  great  preacher  of  the  fourth  century,  the 
other  a  great  preacher  of  the  nineteenth — S.  Chry- 


xviii        APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

sostom  and  F.  W.  Robertson.  Both  have  taught 
me  much;  both  considered  the  Corinthian  Epistles 
of  S.  Paul  from  the  standpoint  of  men  set  to  teach 
civilized  people  under  urban  conditions ;  and  both, 
therefore,  enter  into  the  Apostle's  mind  more  deeply 
than  more  learned  exegetes. 

If  this  little  book  shall  induce  in  anyone  a  desire 
to  know  something  more  about  the  great  subject 
of  which  it  treats,  my  labour  will  not  have  been 
thrown  away.  To  me  it  has  been  a  labour  of  love, 
from  which  I  rise  with  the  conviction  that  in  the 
Apostolic  Age  the  latest  Christian  century  must 
find  its  guidance.  In  reverting  to  first  principles  the 
Church  must  recover  that  Christian  allegiance  which 
she  has  now  so  largely  forfeited.  We  are  haunted 
and  burdened  by  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  later 
history.  We  are  slaves  to  the  fourth  century,  or 
to  the  Ages  of  Faith,  or  to  the  Reformation,  or 
to  the  Zeitgeist  of  our  own  generation.  Hence  our 
impossible  demands,  our  obdurate  divisions,  Our 
desperate  rivalries.  Behind  all  that  long  apostasy 
we  call  Church  History  is  the  Age  of  the  Apostles, 
when  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  was  reflected  in  the 
life  of  the  Society  with  a  fidelity  which  has  never 
since  been  witnessed.  There  we  may  discover  the 
original  principles  of  Christianity,  return  to  which 
is  the  supreme  spiritual  necessity  of  our  time. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I. 
THE  APOSTOLIC  ECCLESIA,  OR  LOCAL  CHURCH 

PAGE 

I.  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SYNAGOGUE  ON  THE  ORGANIZATION 

OF  THE  ECCLESIA     .               .               ...  3 

II.  LIMITS  TO  AUTONOMY  OF  THE  LOCAL  ECCLESIA        .  7 

III.  DISCIPLINE  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  ASSEMBLIES         .        .  16 

IV.  MORAL  DISCIPLINE  OF  THE  LOCAL  ECCLESIA      .        .  34 


PART    II. 
PRELIMINARY   DATA 

CHAP. 

I.   THE  EPISTLES  OF  S.  PAUL        .  .  41 

II.   THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  CORINTH  .        .      54 

III.   THE  LETTER  FROM  CORINTH  66 


PART   III. 
DOCTRINE   AND  THE   SACRAMENTS 

I.   THE  HISTORIC  CHRIST               .  .  81 

II.   THE  RESURRECTION     .               .  ...  94 

III.  THE  CORINTHIAN  HERETICS      .  .           .        .  107 

IV.  THE  APOSTOLIC  CREED              .  .           .        .  120 
V.   BAPTISM        .               .              .  ...  134 

VI.   THE  HOLY  COMMUNION             .  .                    .  150 


xx  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

PART  IV. 

ORGANIZATION  AND   PRACTICE 

CHAP.  PAGK 

I.   THE  CHURCH              .  .                                  •  *73 

II.   THE  MINISTRY             .  .        .  187 

III.  PUBLIC  WORSHIP         .  •  201 

IV.  THE  GIFT  op  TONGUES  •        •  214 
V.   MIRACLES      .  .        .  227 

VI.   THE  CHRISTIAN  PROPHETS        .  .        •  239 

VII.   WOMEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  .        .  252 

VIII.  APOSTOLIC  FINANCE    .  .        .  266 

IX.   CONCLUSIONS               .  .               ...  282 


APPENDICES 

I.   S.  PAUL'S  TEACHING  IN  CORINTH  .        .  297 

II.   APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION               .  .        .  3°° 

III.  CONFESSION  .  .        .  306 

IV.  CELIBACY      .                              .  ...  312 


TWO   DISCOURSES 

I.  THE  ADMINISTRATION   OF  HOLY  BAPTISM  IN  LARGE 

URBAN  PARISHES      .  .  ...     319 

II.   THE  SOCIAL  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY         .        .    336 


PART    I. 

THE   APOSTOLIC    ECCLESIA 
OR   LOCAL   CHURCH 

I.   INFLUENCE  OF  THE   SYNAGOGUE  ON  THE  ORGANIZATION 
OF  THE  ECCLESIA 

II.   LIMITS  TO  THE  AUTONOMY  OF  THE  LOCAL  ECCLESIA 

III.  DISCIPLINE  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  ASSEMBLIES 

IV.  INTERNAL  DISCIPLINE  OF  THE  LOCAL  ECCLESIA 


B 


THE    APOSTOLIC    ECCLESIA 
OR   LOCAL   CHURCH 

I.   INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SYNAGOGUE  ON   THE 
ECCLESIA. 


Church  of  Christ  received  from  the  Divine 
-L  Founder  no  rigid  and  detailed  constitution. 
Neither  the  faith,  nor  the  government,  nor  the 
discipline  of  the  Christian  society  were  defined  in 
advance.  The  Apostles,  to  whom  the  task  of 
founding  the  Church  was  given,  were  assured  the 
presence  of  the  guiding  ''Spirit  of  Truth,"  and  sent 
out  into  the  world  to  learn  by  experiment  and  failure 
the  right  methods  of  organization.  The  conditions 
under  which  they  went  about  their  work  were  difficult 
and  various.  In  Palestine  they  acted  under  the  over 
mastering  influence  of  ancestral  Judaism  :  when  the 
Gospel  had  spread  beyond  the  limits  of  Palestine  it 
advanced  still  on  Jewish  lines.  The  synagogues  of 
the  Hellenistic  Diaspora  became  the  first  preaching 
centres  of  the  Christian  Faith  in  Gentile  lands,  and 
the  earliest  models  of  Church  organization.  More 
over,  the  fact  that  without  exception  the  Apostles 
were  Jews,  and  particularly  that  the  most  active 
missionary  of  them  all,  Paul  of  Tarsus,  was  a 
Rabbinist  of  distinction,  tended  to  strengthen  the 

3 


4  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

influence  of  the  old  system  upon  the  development 
of  the  new.  The  Christian  Church  was  literally  the 
off-spring  of  the  synagogue.  In  Jerusalem  we  learn 
from  the  Epistle  of  S.  James*  that  the  name  "syna 
gogue"  was  actually  applied  to  the  Christian  assembly. 
Probably  this  was  customary  throughout  the  Jewish 
congregations.  The  record  of  the  Acts  suggests  that 
the  Apostles  hoped  and  even  expected  to  win  over  to 
Christianity  entire  synagogues.  They  were  frankly 
admitted  as  co  -  religionists  by  the  synagogue 
authorities,  and  allowed  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
the  worship  to  advocate  the  Messianic  claims  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Thus  S.  Luke  records  of  Paul  and 
his  company  that  at  Antioch,  in  Pisidia,  "  they  went 
into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath,  and  sat  down. 
And  after  the  reading  of  the  law  and  the  prophets 
the  rulers  of  tJie  synagogue  sent  unto  them,  saying, 
Brethren,  if  ye  have  any  word  of  exhortation  for 
the  people,  say  on."\  The  synagogue  was,  indeed, 
the  common  starting-point  of  evangelistic ,  work. 
At  Iconium,  at  Thessalonica,  at  Bercea,  at  Corinth, 
at  Ephesus  we  read  that  S.  Paul  began  his 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the  local  synagogue. 
The  authorities  were  extremely  long  -  suffering ;  in 
no  case  does  it  appear  that  the  Apostle  was  refused 
permission  to  preach,  or  promptly  ejected  after 
the  nature  of  his  preaching  had  become  evident. 
Even  at  Thessalonica,  J  where  the  Jews  showed 
themselves  very  hostile,  we  read  that  the  Chris 
tian  preaching  was  tolerated  for  three  successive 

*  S.  James  ii.  2.  f  Acts  xiii.  14,  15. 

±  Acts  xvii.  2. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  5 

Sabbaths.  At  Corinth*  the  narrative  suggests  that 
a  considerable  time  elapsed  before  the  violent  breach 
with  the  synagogue,  and  at  Ephesusf  it  is  on  record 
that  S.  Paul  continued  his  preaching  in  the  syna 
gogue  for  no  less  than  three  months.  It  would  be 
no  extravagant  assumption  that  in  many  instances 
the  Apostles  succeeded  in  carrying  with  them  the 
entire  synagogue,  which  passed  without  difficulty 
from  Judaism  to  Christianity.!  But  where  this  was 
not  so,  and  the  Christian  synagogue  came  into 
existence  as  a  Schismatic  congregation,  it  is  certain 
that  the  general  system  of  the  parent  synagogue 
would  be  maintained  in  the  separated  body.§  At 
Corinth  and  at  Ephesus  the  transition  was  abrupt 
and  violent.  S.  Paul  made  his  final  departure  from 
the  Corinthian  synagogue  with  every  demonstration 
of  anger.  The  violence  of  the  Jews  was  met  by  an 
outburst  of  righteous  resentment.  "  When  they 
opposed  themselves  and  blasphemed  he  shook  out  his 
raiment,  and  said  unto  them,  Your  blood  be  on  your 
own  heads :  I  am  clean :  from  henceforth  I  will  go 
unto  the  Gentiles"  This  indignant  language  was 
immediately  followed  by  decisive  action.  The 
Apostle  organized  a  Christian  synagogue  in  the 
house  of  a  Corinthian  proselyte  who  dwelt  hard  by 
the  synagogue  of  the  Jews.  The  real  meaning  of 
his  conduct  was  evident  when  Crispus,  the  ruler  of 
the  synagogue  (6  apxi(njvaywyo<i)y  professed  himself 
a  believer,  and  joined  the  new  society.  Much  the 
same  course  was  followed  at  Ephesus :  there  the 

*  Acts  xviii.  4.  f  Acts  xix.  8. 

£  v.  B.  L.  HATCH,  p.  60.  §  B.  L.  HATCH,  p.  60  62. 


6  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

schoolroom  of  Tyrannus  served  to  shelter  the  new 
Christian  community  which  organized  itself  as  a 
rival  synagogue  outside  the  limits  of  Israel.  These 
conspicuous  examples  were  undoubtedly  typical  of 
the  common  procedure.  Everywhere  outside  the 
Jewish  synagogue  was  formed  a  rival,  organized  on 
the  same  lines  and  preserving  unaltered  the  same 
aspect.  The  influx  of  Gentile  converts  must  have 
quickly  affected  the  organization  of  these  Christian 
synagogues.  New  conditions  of  existence  involved 
new  problems,  and  the  solution  of  those  problems 
necessitated  extensive  modification  of  the  original 
Jewish  model.  The  history  of  the  Church  in  Corinth 
enables  us  to  follow  the  course  of  development.  The 
conditions  under  which  that  Church  took  shape  were 
thoroughly  representative.  Originating  in  a  secession 
from  the  Jewish  synagogue,  it  rapidly  attracted  the 
Gentiles,  until  it  became  predominantly  non-Jewish. 
The  society  to  which  the  Pauline  Epistles  are 
addressed  is  clearly  composed  mostly  of  converts 
from  heathenism.  Apostolic  discipline  represents  a 
compromise  between  the  tradition  of  the  Jewish 
synagogue  and  the  needs  of  the  Gentile  disciples. 
The  compromise  was  gradually  reached,  for  the 
needs  to  which  it  was  adapted  only  revealed  them 
selves  gradually,  but  throughout  this  was  its  character 
— an  adaptation  of  the  original  Hebrew  system  to 
the  changed  circumstances  and  wider  functions  of  a 
Christian  Ecclesia. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA 


II.  LIMITS  TO  AUTONOMY  OF  THE   ECCLESIA. 

The  original  Christian  Ecclesia,  as  it  is  pictured 
in  the  Corinthian  Epistles,  was  by  no  means  destitute 
of  the  machinery  of  government.  Whether  there 
existed  a  ministry  in  the  traditional  Christian  sense 
may  be  fairly  questioned.  The  idea  of  a  free  republic 
rather  than  that  of  a  society  governed  by  an  ordained 
ministry  is  suggested  by  the  Apostle's  language :  yet 
this  freedom  was  neither  absolute  nor  unrestricted. 
Large,  indeed,  were  the  powers  of  the  Corinthian 
Ecclesia,  but  they  were  subjected  to  four  important 
authorities.  These  must  be  carefully  considered. 

I.  Laws  of  Christ. 

The  supreme  and  ultimate  authority  was  the 
commandment  of  Christ.  It  is  certain  that  at  the 
time  when  the  Corinthian  Epistles  were  written 
(probably  in  A.D.  57)  the  Evangelic  tradition  had 
not  been  committed  to  writing.  The  oral  Gospel, 
agreeing,  we  may  believe,  in  the  main  with  the  can 
onical  narratives,  varied  considerably  in  detail.  Yet 
wherever  it  could  be  adduced,  the  Authority  of  the 
Divine  Founder  was  final.  Thus  in  the  discussion  on 
the  right  of  the  Christian  ministry  to  maintenance  by 
the  Church.  S.  Paul,  after  advancing  arguments 
drawn  from  the  practice  of  the  older  Apostles,  from 
the  analogy  of  common  life,  from  the  practice  of 
contemporary  Judaism,  reaches  the  climax  of  his 
reasoning  in  the  words,  "Even  so  did  the  Lord  ordain 


8  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

that  they  which  proclaim  the  Gospel  should  live  of  the 
Gospeir  * 

Whether  we  understand  these  words  as  a  free 
rendering  of  Christ's  language  addressed  to  the 
Twelve,  according  to  the  first  Synoptic,  f  to  the 
Seventy  according  to  the  third,J  or  as  a  separate 
"  logion "  which  has  no  place  in  the  Canonical 
Gospels,  it  makes  no  matter.  The  Apostle  evi 
dently  adduces  the  authority  of  our  Lord  as  closing 
the  question.  Similarly,  when  dealing  with  the 
difficult  subject  of  domestic  ties,  which  had  been 
submitted  to  his  judgment  by  the  Corinthians,  S. 
Paul  sharply  distinguishes  his  own  authority  from 
that  of  Christ.  "  Unto  the  married  I  give  charge,  yea 
not  /,  but  the  Lord,  .  .  .  but  to  the  rest  say  7,  not  the 
Lord"§  At  that  early  stage,  when  the  memory  of 
the  Life  of  the  Founder  was  yet  fresh  in  Christian 
minds,  the  authority  of  Christ,  the  Lord,  as  He  was 
emphatically  styled,  was  conceived  as  immediate 
as  well  as  final.  Discipleship  resolved  itself  into 
the  frank  and  affectionate  recognition  of  that 
supreme  and  operative  Lordship.  While  the  tra 
dition  of  the  Founder  was  recent  and  powerful,  the 
lesser  authority  of  the  Christian  society  played  but 
little  part  in  the  history ;  but  manifestly,  as  the 
years  passed,  that  tradition  tended  to  grow  weaker, 
and  as  it  waned  the  ecclesiastical  power,  properly  so 
called,  continuously  waxed. 

*  i  Cor.  ix.  14.  t  S.  Matt.  x.  10. 

J  S.  Luke  x.  7,  8.  §  I  Cor.  vii.  10-12. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  9 

2.  Mosaic  Law  and  Old  Testament. 

S.  Paul  certainly  regarded  the  Christian  Ecclesia 
to  be  subject  to  the  Jewish  law  so  far  as  it  dealt  with 
morals.  He  assumes  among  his  converts  a  complete 
acceptance  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  His  quotations 
from  the  Old  Testament  presuppose  in  his  readers  a 
familiarity  with  the  sacred  writings.  Undoubtedly 
the  Greek  Version  of  the  Canon  was  generally  known 
throughout  the  sphere  of  the  synagogue,  and  its 
acceptance  was  naturally  transferred  from  the  syna 
gogue  to  the  society,  which  found  in  the  synagogue 
its  origin  and  its  model.  Examples  of  an  appeal  to 
the  Scripture  are  numerous  in  the  Corinthian  Epistles. 
Fornication  is  condemned  by  a  reference  to  the  Book 
of  Genesis.  "  The  twain,  saith  he,  shall  become  one 
flesh"*  The  Mosaic  rule,  "  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle 
the  ox  when  he  treadeth  out  the  corn"  is  applied  to 
the  case  of  the  Christian  minister  claiming  mainte 
nance  from  the  Ecclesia  which  he  serves.!  The 
history  of  Israel  supplies  precedents  of  warning  or 
encouragement.  Indeed,  the  Apostle  ascribes  to  the 
Corinthian  Church  the  character  of  sacred  distinc 
tion  which  belonged  to  the  chosen  people.  To  his 
thinking  the  Ecclesia  succeeded  to  the  position 
which  the  synagogue  had  forfeited.!  The  ex 
periences  of  ancient  Israel  are  the  heritage  of  the 
spiritual  Israel  of  Christian  believers.  " For  I  would 
not,  brethren,  have  you  ignorant,  how  that  our  fathers 

*  I  Cor.  vi.  16  =  Genesis  ii.  24.  f   i  Cor.  ix.  9. 

t  cf.  Gal.  vi.   16,  where  S.  Paul  calls  the  Church   "the  Israel  of 
God." 


io  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

were  all  under  the  cloud,  and  passed  through  the  sea. 
.  .  .  Now  these  things  were  our  examples  .  .  .  now  these 
things  happened  unto  them  by  way  of  example :  and 
they  were  written  for  our  admonition,  upon  whom 
the  ends  of  the  ages  are  come"*  The  silence  of 
women  in  the  religious  assemblies  is  based  on  the 
Mosaic  law,  by  which  we  must  understand  the  Rab 
binic  tradition  in  which  S.  Paul  had  been  trained. 
"  Let  the  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches :  for  it  is 
not  permitted  tmto  them  to  speak  ;  but  let  them  be  in 
subjection,  as  also  saith  the  law!'  f 

These  direct  references  to  the  Jewish  law  by  no 
means  adequately  express  the  extent  of  the  restric 
tion  on  Christian  liberty  involved  in  the  Apostle's 
assumption  that  the  Church  was  the  true  successor 
of  the  synagogue,  and  as  such  subject  to  the  moral 
rules,  not  only  of  Scripture  but  also  of  the  established 
Rabbinic  tradition. 

3.  Apostolic  Authority. 

Moreover,  the  Church  was  subject  to  the  Apostolic 
Authority,  and  in  S.  Paul's  hands  that  authority 
was  neither  narrow  in  range  nor  feeble  in  exercise. 
It  is  evident  that  the  Apostle  claimed  for  himself 
over  the  Churches  which  he  founded  an  authority 
supreme  within  the  limits  of  his  apostolic  com 
mission,  divine  in  essence,  independent,  therefore, 
of  external  control,  and  unaffected  by  human  judg 
ment,  which  could  be  exercised  either  in  person, 
or  by  letter,  or  by  a  duly  accredited  envoy.  S.  Paul 

*   I  Cor.  x.  i,  6,  II.  t  i  Cor.  xiv.  34. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  11 

dwells  much  on  his  own  authority,  and  resents, 
almost  passionately,  the  attacks  upon  it,  which  were 
both  frequent  and  vigorous. 

He  planted  the  Church  [eyo>  e<f>vrev<Ta,  in.  6] ;  in  so 
doing  he  was  indeed  a  fellow-worker  with  God. 
[Qeov  yap  eV/xei/  crvvepyol,  Hi.  9.]  He  is  the  wise 
master-builder  [<ro<£o?  apxtrcKrcov,  in.  10],  who  has 
laid  the  one  foundation  [Oe/meXiov]  on  which  all  the 
rest  must  build,  either  well  or  ill.  He  repudiates 
human  judgment  as  indifferent,  and  indeed  irrelevant, 
in  the  case  of  one  who  holds  a  Divine  Commission 
to  be  the  servant  of  Christ  and  steward  of  the 
mysteries  of  God.  [ovrws  rj/mas  Xoyife<r0a>  avOpwTros,  to? 
VTrrjperas  XpiarTOv  KOI  oiKov6fj.ov<s  jmvtTTtjplcov  Qeov,  iv.  I.] 
This,  indeed,  might  be  said  of  all  Christian  ministers, 
but  he  was  the  spiritual  father  of  the  Corinthians, 
and  as  such  could  claim  over  them  an  unique 
authority.  He  addressed  them  not  merely  as  a  tutor 
[Trcu^aycoyoY],  but  as  the  father  who  "  in  Christ  Jesus 
had  begotten  them  through  the  Gospel"  (iv.  14,  15.) 
This  authority  he  would  exert  in  gentleness,  but 
if  necessary  with  severity,  [ri  OeXere ;  ev  pd/SSco 
e\6o)  TT/OO?  v/ma<?  ;  //  ev  ayaTnj  7rvev/J.ctTi  re  TrpcwTrjTOS  ; 
iv.  21.]  His  relation  of  Founder  authorized  him 
to  claim  from  the  Corinthians  a  provision  for  his 
maintenance  [^  OVK  eyofj.ev  e^ovcriav  (frayetv  Kal 
TTietv,  ix.  4],  but  this  right  he  had  not  exercised, 
preferring  not  to  associate  his  preaching  with  any 
personal  claims,  however  legitimate,  (ix.  15-17.) 
The  "  traditions  "  [Trapadoa-ei?]  which  he  had  delivered 
to  the  Corinthians  were  binding  upon  them.  (xi.  2.) 
In  case  of  doubt  as  to  their  application  the  reference 


12  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

lay  to  him,  and  from  his  decision  there  was  no 
appeal.  He  was  the  channel  through  which  the 
Evangelic  History  had  reached  them,  and  he  neces 
sarily  determined  its  practical  bearings.  He  speaks 
by  way  of  command  rather  than  of  exhortation  or 
advice,  and  though  he  is  careful  to  separate  his 
personal  opinion  from  his  inspired  decision,  it  does 
not  appear  that  he  would  tolerate  any  disregard 
of  the  less  authoritative  utterance.  In  the  second 
epistle,  which  has  much  the  appearance  of  a  personal 
"Apologia,"  S.  Paul  dwells  at  length*  on  his  position 
towards  the  Churches  of  his  own  foundation.  He 
evidently  considers  himself  exclusively  charged  with 
their  spiritual  oversight,  and  pathetically  declares 
that  besides  his  normal  sufferings  at  the  hands  of 
persecutors  and  opponents,  "there  is  that  which 
presseth  upon  me  daily,  anxiety  for  all  the  Churches" t 
As  the  Churches  grew  more  numerous,  and 
were  scattered  over  a  wider  area,  the  Apostle 
found  himself  compelled  to  exercise  his  episcopal 
functions  by  means  of  messengers  and  of  letters. 
To  this  necessity  the  Church  owes  those  incom 
parable  compositions,  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul,  which, 
originally  called  forth  by  special  emergencies,  were 
made  the  vehicles  of  eternal  truth,  and  rapidly 
secured  among  Christians  the  supreme  position 
which  they  merited,  and  which  in  the  next  century 
caused  them  to  take  rank  as  inspired  Scripture. 
M,  Renan  has  pointed  out  that  the  idea  of  utilizing 
epistles  t  as  instruments  of  government  was  not 

*  Especially  2  Cor.  x.  7-16.  t  2  Cor.  xi.  28. 

J  R£NAN,  S.  Paul,  p.  228. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA.          13 

original,  but  borrowed,  in  common  with  so  much  else, 
from  the  practice  of  the  synagogue.  In  S.  Paul's 
hands,  however,  the  Epistle  became,  as  we  have  said, 
not  merely  a  means  of  ruling  congregations,  but  also 
of  teaching  religion.  Finally,  in  the  administration 
of  discipline  within  the  local  Churches  S.  Paul  held 
himself  to  be  supreme.  He  issued  his  sentence  from 
a  distance,  and  determined  both  the  character  and 
the  duration  of  punishment.  But  to  this  point  we 
shall  recur  at  a  later  stage  of  our  inquiry. 


4.  General  Custom  of  Ecclesia. 

The  local  Churches  were  self-governing,  but  not 
independent.  The  general  custom  of  the  Christian 
society  was  held  to  be  binding  on  particular  con 
gregations.  This  recognition  of  the  unity  of  the 
Church  was  seriously  threatened  at  Corinth,  where 
tendencies  to  ecclesiastical  individualism  were  un 
usually  strong.  The  behaviour  of  women  in  the 
religious  assemblies  was  a  case  in  point.  It  appears 
that  some  of  the  Corinthian  women  ventured  to 
appear  unveiled  in  the  congregation,  and  actually 
usurped  a  share  in  the  conduct  of  service.  S.  Paul's 
Rabbinic  training  rendered  such  licence  particularly 
abhorrent  to  him  ;  his  good  sense  warned  him  that 
the  gravest  offence,  possibly  leading  to  a  rupture 
of  Communion,  would  be  given  to  the  Churches 
of  Judaea.  Moreover,  he  had  but  too  good  reason 
for  suspecting  the  moral  effect  of  such  perilous 
liberty  upon  the  Corinthian  community.  He  con 
demns  the  conduct  of  the  women  as  an  unwarrantable 


14  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

departure  from  the  general  practice  of  the  Christian 
society.  He  concludes  the  discussion  about  veiling 
with  this  brusque  observation :  "  But  if  any  man 
seemeth  to  be  contentious  [<f>i\6v€iKO$],  we  have  no  such 
custom  [aruwjOetav],  neither  the  Churches  of  God"  * 
and  he  closes  his  prohibition  of  the  public  prophesy 
ing  of  the  women  still  more  peremptorily.  "  What  ? 
was  it  from  you  that  the  Word  of  God  went  forth  ? 
or  came  it  unto  you  alone  ?  "  t  The  Apostolic  Church 
[ was  assuredly  not  "congregational"  in  the  modern 
sense,  any  more  than  it  was  "  presbyterian "  or 
"episcopal " :  the  notion  of  an  external  unityj 
superior  to  local  particularism  and  restraining  it,] 
Jdid  certainly  exist ;  and  in  the  autocracy  of  the 
[Apostles  over  the  Churches  which  they  planted  was 
the  principle  of  the  later  episcopal  regime.  In  face 
of  the  evidence  of  the  Acts  and  the  Pastoral  Epistles 
kt  seems  difficult  to  deny  that  the  notion  of  trans 
mitting  ministerial  authority  by  a  formal  act_of 
prdination  was  established  in  the  earliest  Church. 
[From  these  premisses  the  conclusion  of  episcopacy 
kvould  seem  to  be  as  logically  irresistible  as  it  has 
been  historically  evident. 

Official  Ministry.  Thus  the  local  Churches  in 
the  Apostolic  period  were  held  together  in  a  loose, 
but  not  ineffective  union.  The  task  of  maintaining 
order  within  those  little  communities  must  have 
devolved  upon  officials.  The  synagogue,  upon  which 
the  Christian  Ecclesia  was  modelled,  had  its  duly 
ordained  officials  ;  it  is  barely  conceivable  that  these 
could  have  been  dispensed  with  in  the  new  societies. 

*  I  Cor.  xi.  16.  t  I  Cor.  xiv.  36. 


THE  APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  15 

It  is  not,  indeed,  necessary  to  assume  that  in  those 
early  days  there  existed  the  sharply  defined  "  orders  " 
of  a  later  age,  but  that  some  ministry  existed,  how 
soever  designated  or  regarded,  seems  to  be  proved 
by  the  Pauline  Epistles.  Possibly,  as  Weizacker 
suggests,  the  earliest  converts  became  the  first 
ministers.*  In  their  houses  would  the  little  con 
gregation  of  converts  ordinarily  come  together,  and 
their  claim  to  the  submission  of  their  brethren  would 
be  largely  based  on  the  substantial  services  which 
they  rendered  to  the  common  cause. 

It  must,  however,  be  conceded  that  the  regular 
ordained  ministry  was,  in  Apostolic  times,  dwarfed 
by  the  exceptional  ministries  which  then  principally 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  Church.  The  diffusion 
of  extraordinary  gifts  rendered  the  maintenance  of 
order  extremely  difficult.  At  Corinth  it  is  probable 
that  the  circumstances  were  exceptional,  but  every 
where  in  the  Apostolic  age  the  "  deacon,"  the 
"  presbyter,"  and  the  "  episcopos "  count  for  little 
beside  the  "  apostle,"  the  "  prophet,"  the  "  speaker 
in  a  tongue."  It  is  remarkable  that  neither  when 
rebuking  the  disorders  which  disgraced  the  Agape, 
and  even  the  Eucharist,  nor  when  regulating  the 
procedure  of  the  normal  religious  assemblies  at 
Corinth,  does  S.  Paul  address  himself  to  those  who, 
on  the  hypothesis  that  an  ordained  ministry  existed 
in  that  Church,  must  have  been  primarily  responsible 
for  the  disorders  and  the  natural  agents  of  reform 
ation. 

*  Vide  Apostolic  Age,  vol.  ii.  p.  320;  cf.  also  HORT,  Christian 
Ecclesia,  p.  117. 


16  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

III.   DISCIPLINE  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  ASSEMBLIES, 
i.  Domestic. 

The  religious  assemblies  were  either  domestic 
or  public.  To  the  former  none  but  the  baptized 
had  access;  the  latter  appear  to  have  been  open  to 
the  entrance  of  the  heathen  [a-jna-roij  I  Cor.  xiv.  22], 
and  perhaps  were  designed  with  a  view  to  their 
conversion.  The  domestic  assemblies  were  the 
Agapae  or  Love-feasts,  and  the  Lord's  Supper.*  At 
this  early  time  these  were  united,  the  Agape  forming 
a  preliminary  to  the  more  solemn  rite.t  Later, 
probably  as  a  consequence  of  the  persecutions,  the 
Agape  was  wholly  discontinued,  and  the  Holy 
Communion  transferred  to  the  early  morning.  This 
arrangement,  originating  under  the  pressure  of 
calamity,  speedily  commended  itself  as  convenient, 
and  from  the  second  century  until  the  nineteenth 
the  practice  of  celebrating  the  Holy  Eucharist  in 
the  evening  has  been  abandoned. 

That  grave  disorders  had  made  their  appearance 
in  the  Corinthian  Church  is  evident  from  S.  Paul's 
letter.  The  Corinthians  carried  over  into  their 
Agapae  the  licentious  and  ostentatious  habits  of  their 
prae-Christian  life.  The  Apostle's  indignant  language 
conveys  a  melancholy  picture  of  excess  and  anti 
social  arrogance.  The  Corinthians,  when  they  came 
together  for  the  Agape,  drew  apart  in  cliques,  severed 
from  one  another  by  doctrinal  differences  or  by  variant 
customs.  The  mutual  dislike  and  suspicion  of  these 

*  S.  Jude  12.  t  S.  Peter  xi.  13. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  17 

factions  destroyed  the  harmony  and  threatened  the 
unity  of  the  Ecclesia.  More  scandalous,  however, 
was  the  ostentatious  gluttony  of  the  wealthier 
members,  and  the  evident  hunger  of  the  poorer. 
It  would  seem  that  at  Corinth  everyone  brought 
with  him  not — as  was  the  later  and  more  creditable 
practice — a  contribution  to  the  common  provision,  but 
his  own  supper.  The  rich  ate  to  excess,  the  poor  had 
little  or  nothing ;  and  when  in  due  course  the  Agape 
was  succeeded  by  the  Mysteries  of  the  Eucharist  the 
awful  profanity  of  drunken  communicants  might  be 
observed.  "  When  therefore  ye  assemble  yourselves 
together \  it  is  not  possible  to  eat  the  Lord's  Supper : 
[KvpictKov  SeiTrvov  <f>ayeiv]  for  in  your  eating  each  one 
taketh  before  other  his  own  supper :  and  one  is  hungry 
and  another  is  drunken.  What  ?  have  ye  not  houses 
to  eat  and  to  drink  in  ?  or  despise  ye  the  Church  of 
God  [;/  TJ;?  eK\\r]cria$  TOU  Oeov  Ka.Ta<f)pov€iT€\  and  put 
them  to  shame  that  have  not  ?  "  After  rehearsing  the 
history  of  the  Institution  of  the  Eucharist,  and 
pointing  out  in  terms  of  the  greatest  solemnity  the 
guiltiness  of  the  Corinthians,  the  Apostle  concludes, 
"  Wherefore,  my  brethren,  when  ye  come  together  to  eat, 
wait  one  for  another.  If  any  man  is  hungry  let  him 
eat  at  home :  that  your  coming  together  be  not  unto 
judgment"  [u/a  IJLYJ  el?  Kpt/ma  crvvepxivOe,  1  Cor.  xi. 
20,  21  ;  33,  34.] 

2.  Public. 

Quite   distinct   from   the   Agape   and   the  Lord's 
Supper,  which  followed  it,  was  the  public  service  of 
the  Church.     The  former  were  domestic  and  social, 
C 


i8  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  latter  was  public  and  didactic.  It  may  safely  be 
asserted  that  the  ordinary  service  of  the  synagogue 
provided  the  model  upon  which  the  public  service  of 
the  Ecclesia  was  formed.  The  reading  of  the  Old 
Testament,  probably  in  the  Septuagint  Version,  and 
in  fixed  portions  or  lessons,  the  recitation  and  singing 
of  the  Psalms,  the  offering  of  prayer,  and  preaching 
were  common  to  both.  Very  early  the  practice  was 
introduced  of  reading  the  Apostolic  Epistles,  and, 
when  the  Evangelic  tradition  had  been  committed  to 
writing,  the  Gospel  narratives,*  S.  Paul  instructs  the 
Colossians  not  only  to  read  in  the  public  assembly 
of  the  Church  the  Epistle  which  he  had  addressed 
to  them,  but  to  forward  it  to  the  Church  of  the  Lao- 
diceans  for  similar  public  reading,  and  to  receive  in 
exchange  the  Epistle  from  Laodicea.t  The  arrange 
ment  of  the  congregation  customary  in  the  Jewish 
was  reproduced  in  the  Christian  synagogue.  In  both 
women  were  present,  and  joined  in  the  singing  and 
the  "  Amen  "  ;  but  in  neither  were  they  permitted  to 
appear  unveiled,  or  to  take  any  prominent  share  in 
the  service.  It  appears  that  the  men  prayed  un 
covered,  according  to  the  general  custom  of  the 
Greeks.  The  practice  of  veiling  the  head  in  token 
of  reverence  and  penitence,  which  certainly  prevailed 
among  the  later  Jews,  did  not  perhaps  obtain  in 
the  Apostolic  age4  Possibly  there  was  a  formal 
allocation  of  seats  to  the  "  unbelievers  "  who  attended 
these  assemblies,  such  as  was  customary  in  the  next 
century. 

These    arrangements,    borrowed    from    the    syna- 

*  S.  Mark  xiii.  14.         f  Col.  iv.  16.        £  I  Cor.  xiv.  16. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  19 

gogue,  were  necessarily  modified  by  the  conditions 
under  which  the  Christian  Ecclesia  existed.  On  the 
one  hand,  the  extraordinary  diffusion  of  xaPicrfJLaTa' 
on  the  other  hand,  the  rapid  expansion  of  the  society 
by  the  admission  of  converts  from  heathenism,  neces 
sarily  affected  the  constitution  and  order  of  the 
Ecclesia.  The  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  first  Cor 
inthian  Epistles  throws  a  strong  light  on  the  subject, 
and  must,  therefore,  receive  the  close  attention  of  the 
student  of  Apostolic  Christianity. 

S.  Paul  evidently  combats  an  exaggerated  estimate 
of  the  socially  valueless  x<*Pl°'V'a>  described  by  the 
ambiguous  expression,  speaking  yAoW#  or  yXaWai?. 
He  contrasts  it  very  disadvantageously  with  the 
XapKr/jLct  of  7rpo<f»]T6ia.  The  basis  of  his  judgment 
is  the  assumption  that  the  measure  of  worth  is  the 
power  to  edify.  "  He  that  speaketh  in  a  tongue  edifieth 
himself,  but  he  that  prophesieth  edifieth  the  Church. 
Now  I  would  have  you  all  speak  with  tongues,  but 
rather  that  ye  should  prophesy :  and  greater  is  he  that 
prophesieth  than  he  tJiat  speaketh  with  tongues,  except  he 
interpret,  that  the  Church  may  receive  edifying"  (1/^.4,5). 
Here  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  Apostle  evidently 
contemplates  the  very  widest  diffusion  of  xa/o/o-/xara. 
There  is  no  suggestion  of  an  official  ministry,  charged 
with  the  conduct  of  "  Divine  Service."  S.  Paul  as 
sumes  the  possibility,  and  even  the  desirableness  of 
an  arrangement  by  which,  without  confusion,  every 
member  (no  doubt,  every  adult  male  member)  of 
the  Ecclesia  should  lead  the  public  devotions.  He 
rebukes  the  disorderly  exercise  of  the  xap'i(TlJ-a'ra: 
he  does  not  deprecate  all  exercise.  "  What  is  it. 


20  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

then,  brethren  ?  When  ye  come  together,  each  one  hath 
a  psalm,  hath  a  teaching,  hath  a  revelation,  hath  a 
tongue,  hath  an  interpretation"  There  was  no  agree 
ment  beforehand  as  to  the  nature  and  order  of  the 
religious  exercises,  nor  yet  any  settled  principle  by 
which  the  exercise  of  the  xapi(TlULaTa  might  be 
directed  and  restrained.  The  Ecclesia  tended  to 
present  to  view  a  scandalous  spectacle  of  disorder 
and  competitive  display.  The  Apostle  lays  down 
the  broad  principle,  "Let  all  things  be  done  to 
edifying','  and  proceeds  to  apply  the  rules  of  the 
synagogue  to  remedy  the  confusions  of  the  Church. 
The  Rabbins  required  that  the  reading  and  interpret 
ing  of  the  Scripture  should  be  orderly,  the  ministers 
succeeding  one  another  in  due  rotation.*  So  in  the 
Ecclesia.  "  If  any  man  speaketh  in  a  tongue,  let  it  be 
by  two,  or  at  the  most  three,  and  that  in  turn :  and 
let  one  interpret :  but  if  there  be  no  interpreter,  let  him 
keep  silence  in  the  Church :  and  let  him  speak  to 
himself  and  to  God.  And  let  the  prophets  Speak  by 
two  or  three,  and  let  the  others  discern.  [SictKpiveraxrav.] 
But  if  a  revelation  be  made  to  another  sitting  by,  let 
the  first  keep  silence?  It  would  seem  that  the 
prophets  formed  a  distinct  class,  and  sate  together 
in  the  assembly.  But  they  were  not  officials.  The 
prophetic  inspiration  might  come  upon  any  member 
of  the  Ecclesia,  and  its  character  was  "discerned"  or 
recognized  by  infallible  tokens.  Once  admitted  into 
the  category  of  the  prophets,  the  position  seems  to 
have  been  permanently  retained.  S.  Paul  refused  to 
allow  the  strength  of  the  prophetic  impulse  to  be 

*  LlGHTFOOT,  Works,  xii.  542. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  21 

pleaded  as  an  excuse  for  breaking  up  the  order  of  the 
worship.  Disorder  could  not  be  justified  :  it  involved 
an  insult  to  the  Author  of  all  order.  "  For  ye  all  can 
prophesy  one  by  one,  that  all  may  learn,  and  all  may  be 
comforted :  and  the  spirits  of  the  prophets  are  subject  to 
the  prophets,  for  God  is  not  a  God  of  confusion,  but  of 
peace:  as  in  all  the  Churches  of  the  Saints"*  The 
Apostle  takes  for  granted  that  his  counsels,  con 
ceived  in  the  interests  of  order,  will  be  affirmed  by 
the  genuine  prophets.  He  boldly  proposes  such 
affirmation  as  a  test  of  genuineness.  "  If  any  man 
thinketh  himself  to  be  a  prophet,  or  spiritual,  let 
him  take  knowledge  of  the  things  which  I  write 
unto  you,  that  they  are  the  commandment  of  the 
Lord''  (y.  37.)  The  ideal  which  he  offers  to  the 
Corinthians  unites  the  highest  appreciation  of  the 
XapKTfjLara  with  the  keenest  jealousy  of  disorder- 
"  Wherefore,  my  brethren,  desire  earnestly  to  pro 
phesy,  and  forbid  not  to  speak  with  tongues.  But 
let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in  order"  [Trcu/ra 
(5e  evcrxilu-ovGi)?  KOI  Kara  TOL^IV  yivea-Oco.] 

The  necessity  of  thus  laying  stress  on  the  im 
portance  of  order  was  evident  from  another  point 
of  view.  The  heathen  were  wont  to  attend  the 
meetings  of  the  Ecclesia,  and  the  impressions  they 
received  determined  their  permanent  attitude  towards 
Christianity.  There  was  much  suspicion  of  the  new 
religion  among  them,  and  the  malignant  jealousy 
of  the  Jews  was  at  all  times  eager  to  minister  to  that 
suspicion  the  stimulus  and  direction  of  malicious 
suggestion.  It  was  clearly  important  to  vigilantly 
*  xiv.  31-33. 


22  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

guard  against  discreditable  appearances,  which,  in 
the  existing  state  of  opinion,  could  hardly  fail  to 
receive  the  worst  possible  construction.  S.  Paul  is 
fully  awake  to  this  danger,  and  warns  the  Corinthians 
against  it.  He  describes  the  case  of  a  simple  heathen, 
drawn  by  curiosity  to  visit  the  Christian  Assembly. 
He  is  startled  by  the  confused  and  meaningless 
clamour  of  the  "  unknown  tongue,"  which  in  the 
extravagance  of  unrestrained  enthusiasm  is  poured 
forth  at  once  from  many  persons.  His  astonishment 
is  quickly  replaced  by  disgust,  and  he  leaves  the 
meeting  convinced  that  Christians  are  the  victims 
of  insanity.  Against  this  melancholy  picture  the 
Apostle  sets  the  case  of  a  man  who  has  found 
himself  encountered  by  the  solemn,  spirit-searching 
utterances  of  the  prophets,  as  in  due  order  they 
succeeded  one  another  in  speaking  to  men  "edifica 
tion,  and  comfort,  and  consolation''  He  feels  irre 
sistibly  that  he  is  in  a  divine  presence ;  his  conscience 
is  stirred,  his  fears  are  waked,  and  he  lends  a  willing 
and  respectful  audience  to  the  Gospel.  "  If  therefore 
the  whole  Church  be  gathered  together,  and  all  speak 
with  tongues,  and  there  come  in  men  unlearned  or 
unbelieving  [iSiurrat  r\  cn^crroi],  will  they  not  say  that 
ye  are  mad  ?  But  if  all  prophesy,  and  there  come  in 
one  unbelieving  or  unlearned,  he  is  reproved  [eXeyxeraf] 
by  all,  he  is  judged  [avaKplverai]  by  all:  the  secrets  of 
his  heart  are  made  manifest :  and  so  he  will  fall  down 
on  his  face  and  worship  God,  declaring  that  God  is 
among  you  indeed"* 

*  xiv.  23-25. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  23 


3.  Moral  Discipline. 

The  close  contact  with  the  heathen  in  the 
necessary  intercourse  of  urban  life  forced  into 
prominence  the  organization  of  an  effective  moral 
discipline.  The  paramount  character  of  Apostolic 
Christianity  in  a  great  heathen  city  was  that  of 
revolt  against  the  established  morality.  The 
ancients  were  sufficiently  familiar  with  novelties  in 
doctrine  to  regard  with  equanimity  the  addition 
of  one  more  religious  theory  to  the  many  already 
in  existence.*  The  variety  of  rites  and  ceremonies 
was  so  great  that  if  the  Christian  observances  had 
been  far  more  novel  than  they  actually  were,  they 
would  hardly,  of  themselves,  have  occasioned  much 
alarm,  or  provoked  much  opposition,  but  the  case 
was  different  in  the  region  of  practical  morality. 
The  Christians  there  stood  out  in  sharp  contrast 
to  the  rest  of  society,  they  were  committed  to  a 
position  of  arrogant  isolation,  they  seemed  plainly 
guilty  of  anti-social  conspiracy.  The  very  violence 
of  the  rupture  with  society  necessitated  by  disciple- 
ship  rendered  the  maintenance  of  moral  discipline 
at  once  the  most  arduous  and  the  most  important 
function  of  the  Christian  Ecclesia.  The  Corinthian 
Epistles  reveal  the  gravity  of  the  perils  which 
threatened  the  morality  of  the  infant  Church,  and 
the  means  by  which  the  Church  endeavoured  to 
guard  her  purity. 

*  Cf.  the  scene  at  Athens.     Acts  xvii.  16  fol. 


24  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 


CASE  OF  THE  INCESTUOUS  CORINTHIAN. 

A  gross  scandal  at  Corinth  had  been  brought 
to  the  Apostle's  knowledge,  and  his  directions  for 
dealing  with  it  enable  us  to  learn  the  nature  of  the 
discipline  then  established.*  The  case  is  thus 
described  by  S.  Paul.  "//  is  actually  reported  that 
there  is  fornication  \Tropveid\  among  you,  and  such 
fornication  as  is  not  even  among  the  Gentiles,  that  one 
of  you  hath  his  father  s  wife.  And  ye  are  puffed  up, 
and  did  not  rather  mourn,  that  he  that  hath  done  this 
deed  might  be  taken  away  from  among  you.  For  I 
verily,  being  absent  in  body  but  present  in  spirit,  have 
already,  as  though  I  were  present,  judged  him  that 
hath  so  wrought  this  thing  in  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus,  ye  being  gathered  together,  and  my  spirit,  with 
the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  to  deliver  such  a  one  unto 
Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit 
may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus"  Here  we 
may  separately  consider:  (i)  the  offence;  (2)  the 
procedure ;  (3)  the  sentence. 

I.  Offence. 

The  offence  of  the  incestuous  Corinthian  was  not 
directly  an  ecclesiastical  offence.  It  was  a  breach 
of  the  moral  law  involving  scandal,  and,  therefore, 
came  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Ecclesia.  The 
predominant  character  of  Apostolic  Christianity  being 
moral,  gross  breaches  of  morality  involved  a  negation 
of  discipleship.  S.  Paul  enumerates  the  offences  which 
*  i  Cor.  v.  1-5. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  25 

were  of  this  fatal  character.  How  far  it  is  possible  to 
extract  from  his  language  anything  of  the  nature  of  a 
formal  classification  of  sins  may  well  be  doubted.  It 
appears  that  objection  had  been  taken  to  his  ruling  in 
a  letter,  which  is  no  longer  extant,  as  impracticable. 
In  justifying  his  decision,  which  had  been  misunder 
stood,  the  Apostle  seizes  the  opportunity  for  develop 
ing  his  moral  teaching.  "  /  wrote  unto  you  in  my  epistle 
to  have  no  company  'cvith  fornicators ;  not  altogether 
with  the  fornicators  of  this  world,  or  with  the  covetous 
and  extortioners,  or  with  idolaters :  for  tJien  must  ye 
needs  go  out  of  the  world:  But  now  I  write  unto  you 
not  to  keep  company,  if  any  man  that  is  named  a 
brother  [eaV  -n?  a£eA$>o?  oVo/uafo'/ueyo?]  be  a  fornicator 
or  covetous  [TrXeoi/e/cr/;?],  or  an  idolater 
,  or  a  reviler  [XolSopos],  or  a  drunkard 
,  or  an  extortioner  [a/o7ra£],  with  such  a  one 
no,  not  to  eat.  For  what  have  I  to  do  with  judging 
them  that  are  without  [TOU?  e'fco]  ?  Do  not  ye  judge 
them  that  are  zvithin  [rot'?  ecrw],  whereas  them  that 
are  without  God  judgeth  ?  Put  aiuay  [egdpare]  the 
wicked  man  from  among  yourselves'.'*  This  language 
is  explicit.  S.  Paul,  distinctly  repudiating  the  notion 
of  passing  judgment  on  non-Christians,  enumerates 
six  offences  as  involving  loss  of  communion,  and,  as  a 
consequence  of  loss  of  communion,  cessation  of  social 
intercourse.  These  offences  are:  I,  fornication;  2, 
covetousness  ;  3,  idolatry  ;  4,  reviling  ;  5,  drunkenness  ; 
6,  extortion. 

A  little  further  on  in  the  Epistle  he  repeats  in  a 
more  rhetorical    shape  his  enumeration  of  offences 
*  i  Cor.  v.  9-13. 


26  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

fatal  to  Christian  fellowship.*  To  the  six  sins  already 
mentioned  he  adds  four:  adultery, effeminacy,  sodomy, 
theft.  These,  however,  would  seem  to  be  really  in 
cluded  in  the  shorter  enumeration.  Thus  the  more 
general  Tropvot  would  seem  to  include  the  particular 
variety  /U.OLXO{,  and  less  obviously  the  darker  types  of 
sensuality.  "  Thieves  "  might  be  included  in  "  ex 
tortioners."  The  Apostle  names  the  varieties  of 
sensuality  in  an  ascending  scale  of  gravity.  Forni 
cation  was  in  the  actual  experience  of  the  Corinthians 
aggravated  by  religious  connections,  and  became 
idolatry.  It  might  involve  also  a  grave  social  offence 
as  adultery ;  nay,  lust  had  yet  darker  developments 
— it  passed  into  those  offences  which  the  usage  of 
Christendom  abhors  as  "  unnatural."  Clearly  the 
immediate  needs  of  the  Corinthian  Ecclesia  are  the 
governing  influences  in  these  Corinthian  catalogues. 
Crimes  of  violence  are  altogether  omitted  ;  crimes  of 
sensuality  are  elaborately  enumerated. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  S.  Paulf  sets  down 
a  long  list  of  fifteen  "  works  of  the  flesh,"  but  the 
passage  is  obviously  rhetorical,  and  need  not  be 
further  considered. 


2.  Procedure. 

The  disciplinary  procedure  is  sufficiently  indicated 
in  the  passage  quoted  above.  The  whole  Ecclesia 
was  specially  convened,  and  the  guilty  member 
set  forward  in  the  midst.  A  solemn  invocation  of 
Christ,  conceived  as  actually  present,  for  the  Apostolic 

*  i  Cor.  vi.  9,  10.  t  v.  19. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  27 

Church  literally  believed  the  promise  in  the  Gospel,* 
introduced  the  formal  treatment  of  the  case.  Probably 
the  commandment  of  the  absent  Apostle  was  read 
aloud  in  order  that  the  greatest  possible  authority 
might  attach  to  the  action  of  the  Church,  and  the 
sentence  was  pronounced  in  his  name.  The  formula 
of  excommunication  may  be  recognized  in  S.  Paul's 
Epistle.  The  offender  was  delivered  unto  Satan  for 
the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  might  be 
saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus. t 

Assuming  with  most  authorities  that  the  sequel  to 
the  case  of  the  incestuous  Corinthian  is  to  be  found 
in  the  second  Epistle,^  we  can  learn  that  unanimity 
was  not  necessary  in  order  to  pass  sentence  of  ex 
communication.  A  majority  sufficed.  §  This,  indeed, 
was  the  case  in  this  instance.  S.  Paul's  severity  did 
not  commend  itself  to  all  the  members  of  the  Corin 
thian  Ecclesia.  His  decision  was  resisted  by  a 
minority,  but  the  sentence  of  the  majority  was 
accepted  as  final.  The  offender,  declared  excom 
municate,  manifested  every  token  of  genuine  repent 
ance.  Indeed,  his  sorrow  was  so  extreme  as  to 
threaten  despair.  So  the  Apostle  intervened  in  the 

*  S.  Matt,  xviii.  20. 

t  2  Cor.  ii.  5-1 1. 

J  Weizacker  (Apostolic  Christianity,  vol.  i.  pp.  349-353)  argues  that 
the  connection  between  the  excommunication  in  the  first  Epistle  and 
the  absolution  in  the  second  is  untenable.  But  his  reasoning  is  weakened 
by  an  obvious  desire  to  magnify  the  opposition  to  S.  Paul's  Apostolic 
authority  in  Corinth.  The  matter  is  not  of  importance  so  far  as  the 
argument  in  the  text  is  concerned. 

§  Godet  repudiates  the  notion  of  a  formal  sentence  by  vote  of  the 
Ecclesia  as  absurd;  but  his  reasons  are  not  convincing.  (Cor.  i. 
228-9.) 


28  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

interest  of  mercy.  In  the  second  Epistle  he  urges  the 
penitent's  restoration,  and  undertakes  to  ratify  the 
action  of  the  Corinthians  in  rescinding  the  excom 
munication.  We  may  conclude  that  the  restoration 
of  the  offender*  was  not  less  public,  solemn,  and  formal 
than  his  expulsion. 

3.  Sentence. 

What  ought  to  be  understood  by  the  apostolic 
formula  of  excommunication  ?  M.  Renan  under 
stands  the  language  of  S.  Paul  in  the  Corinthian 
Epistle  quite  literally.  "  II  ne  faut  pas  en  douter : 
c'est  une  condamnation  a  mort  que  Paul  prononce."t 
There  is  much  to  be  said  for  this  view.  The  case  of 
Ananias  and  Sapphira,  recorded  in  the  Acts,  may  be 
adduced  in  support  of  it,  nevertheless  it  cannot  be 
accepted  without  modification. 

Under  the  circumstances  of  the  Apostolic  Church 
mere  exclusion  from  the  Christian  society  was  a 
very  serious  matter.  The  sentence  extended  not 
only  to  the  religious  assemblies  from  which  the  ex 
communicate  was  banished,  but  also  to  the  friendly 
and  almost  indispensable  intercourse  of  society. 
Christianity  drew  the  line  very  sharply  between  the 
Church  and  Pagan  society :  to  be  excluded  from 
the  Church  was  to  be  an  outcast  from  all  men. 

*  Probably  the  penitent  was  restored  to  communion  by  the  laying  on 
of  hands.  The  exhortation  in  I  Tim.  v.  22,  "  Lay  hands  hastily  on  no 
one,"  may  be,  with  large  probability,  referred  to  "  the  act  of  blessing 
by  which  penitents  were  received  back  into  the  communion  of  the 
faithful."  It  is  so  understood  by  Dr.  Hort  (Christian  Ecclcsia, 
p.  214)  and  by  Bishop  Ellicott  (Pastoral  Epistles,  p.  83,  5th  ed. ). 

t  S.  Paul,  p.  392. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  29 

The  excommunicate  Christian  was  the  object  of 
general  abhorrence.  The  terrors  of  superstition 
were  added  to  his  actual  misery.  He  had  been 
publicly  "  delivered  to  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the 
flesh"  The  terrible  formula  was  no  merely  con 
ventional  phrase,  of  which  the  meaning  had  been 
quietly  worn  away  by  familiarity.*  It  was  a  new 
formula,  expressing  at  once  the  Christian  belief  in 
the  power  of  evil,  and  the  apostolic  authority  in  the 
spiritual  sphere.  Thrust  outside  the  protected  area 
of  the  Church,  the  excommunicate  lay  exposed  to 
every  spiritual  adversary.  Even  S.  Paul  held  the 
prevailing  doctrine  that  the  heathen  deities  were 
demons,  (i  Cor.  x.  20.)  We  may  be  sure  that  the 
Corinthian  converts  held  it  far  more  strongly.  What 
must  have  been  the  mental  and  spiritual  anguish  of 
the  wretch  thus  abandoned  to  the  vengeance  of  the 
idol-demons,  whom  he  had  deserted  in  order  to  join 
that  Church  which  now  disowns  him?  It  is  not 
difficult  to  believe  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  excom 
munication  was  often  followed  by  disease  and  death. 
The  consequences  which  followed  the  desecration  of 
the  Eucharist  at  Corinth  would  follow  expulsion  from 
the  Church.  "For  this  cause  many  among  you  are 
weak  and  sickly \  and  not  a  few  sleep >."t  The  "destruc 
tion  of  the  flesh"  would  bear  a  terribly  literal  mean 
ing  ;  and  the  connection  between  excommunication 
and  physical  disaster,  once  established  in  the  general 
mind  by  some  striking  examples,  would  tend  to 
justify  itself  by  means  of  the  fears  it  provoked. 

*   LlGHTFOOT,  VOL  xii.  p.  475. 

t  I  Cor.  xi.  30. 


30  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

It  has  been  hitherto  assumed  without  hesitation 
that  the  delivery  unto  Satan  and  excommunication 
were  identical,  but  this  identity  has  by  no  means 
been  generally  maintained,  and  we  must  therefore 
not  pass  away  from  the  subject  without  giving  some 
reasons  for  our  position. 

M.  Godet  insists,  with  great  positiveness,  on  dis 
tinguishing  between  excommunication,  which  was  an 
act  of  the  local  Ecclesia,  and  this  sentence  of  delivery 
to  Satan,  which  was  exclusively  an  Apostolic  act. 
The  latter  might  or  might  not  be  added  to  the 
former,  and  it  alone  carried  with  it  a  physical 
penalty.  The  Corinthians,  indeed,  by  prayer  might 
have  obtained  at  God's  hand  the  destruction  of  the 
excommunicate,*  and  they  were  blameworthy  in  not 
doing  so  ;  but  what  their  prayers  might  have  effected 
the  authority  of  the  Apostle  could  inflict.  "  La  seule 
difference  entre  ce  chatiment  qu'a  de"cre"t6  1'apotre  et 
celui  que  les  Corinthiens  auraient  dti  rdclamer  d'en 
haut,  c'est  que  T^glise  s'en  serait  remise  a  Dieu  pour 
le  mode  d'e"xe"cution,  tandis  que  Paul,  en  vertu  de  sa 
position  spirituelle  supe"rieure  a  celle  de  I'e'glise,  se 
permet  de  determiner  le  moyen  dont  le  Seigneur  se 
servira,  car  il  connait  la  pens£e  du  Seigneur."f  (ii.  16.) 

Weizacker,  on  the  other  hand,  takes  for  granted 
that  excommunication  involved  (according  to  the 
belief  of  the  Apostle)  the  dreadful  physical  conse 
quences  implied  by  "  delivery  unto  Satan."  "  Exclu 
sion  from  the  Church  was  not,  however,  all  that  was 
involved.  Paul  associated  with  that  the  idea  derived 

•  I  Cor.  v.  2,  atpeiv,  equal  to  destroy,  according  to  M.  Godet. 
t  GODET,  Corinthiens^  vol.  i.  p.  232. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  31 

from  the  old  institution  of  the  ban,  that  the  excom 
municated  person  would  necessarily  die.  He  would 
be  given  over  bodily  to  Satan  for  destruction,  and 
the  sentence  of  the  Church  thereby  only  effected 
what  he  himself  effected  who  took  part  unworthily 
in  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  who  was  in  consequence 
punished  with  sickness  and  death."* 

It  is  not  disputed  that  the  Church  borrowed  from 
the  synagogue  the  procedure  of  excommunication. 
That  procedure  involved  a  graduation  of  penalties. 
Lightfoot  has  described  the  disciplinary  system  of 
the  Jews  in  his  "  exercitations "  on  the  Corinthian 
Epistle.f  We  learn  that  excommunication  was  in 
three  stages  of  advancing  severity,  (i)  Simple  ex 
communication,  which  was  called  Niddui,  in  which 
there  was  not  absolute  cursing,  and  which  lasted 
thirty  days.  During  that  time  the  excommunicate 
might  make  his  submission  and  receive  absolution. 
(2)  Excommunication  with  a  curse,  Shammatha, 
which  involved  the  publication  of  the  offence  in  the 
synagogue,  and  also  lasted  thirty  days.  (3)  Anathema, 
which  was  the  final  sentence.  "  And  this  is  much 
more  heavy  than  either  Niddui  or  Shammatha.  For 
in  this  is  both  excommunication,  and  cursing,  and 
the  forbidding  the  use  of  any  men,  unless  in  those 
things  only  which  belong  to  the  sustaining  of  life. 
And  they  anathematize  not,  but  when  a  man  hath 
hardened  himself  against  the  bench  once  and  again." 
Lightfoot  himself  concludes  that  "delivery  unto 
Satan"  was  not  excommunication,  but  "a  miracu- 

*  WEIZACKER,  Apostolic  Age,  vol.  ii.  p.  379,  Eng.  Trans, 
t  LIGHTFOOT,  Works,  vol.  xii.  p.  466,  fol.     London,  1823. 


32  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

lous  action,  namely,  of  the  real  delivery  of  this 
(incestuous)  person  into  the  hands  and  power  of 
Satan,  to  be  scourged  by  him,  and  tormented  by 
him  with  diseases,  tortures,  and  afTrightments."  We 
should  rather  conclude  that  the  more  dreadful  conse 
quences  of  Christian  excommunication  did  but  reflect 
the  superiority  of  the  Church  over  the  synagogue ; 
the  graduated  system  of  Jewish  discipline  was  adopted 
by  the  Church,  and  in  the  Church  necessarily  received 
a  more  mysterious  and  dreadful  character.  In  the 
case  of  the  incestuous  Corinthian,  the  Ecclesia  had 
not  even  taken  the  first  step  in  the  disciplinary 
process.  S.  Paul,  to  mark  at  once  his  horror  of 
the  crime  and  his  indignation  at  the  laxity  which 
condoned  it,  insists  upon  the  final  sentence  of 
Anathema,  i.e.t  delivery  unto  Satan  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  flesh.  His  language  appears  to  convey 
this.  The  exceptional  circumstance  of  his  absence 
from  Corinth  is  not  to  interfere  with  the  formality 
of  the  proceedings.  The  Ecclesia  is  to  meet,  and 
his  sentence,  conveyed  beforehand  in  the  Epistle,  is 
to  be  considered  precisely  equivalent  to  a  declaration 
from  him  actually  present. 

That  there  was  a  graduated  system  of  discipline 
in  the  Apostolic  Church  is  evident  from  several 
passages  in  the  Epistles.  The  passages  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  and  the  Galatians  are 
of  especial  value  in  illustrating  the  language  of  the 
Corinthian  Epistles.  Excommunication  of  the 
milder,  preliminary  type  is  suggested  by  2  Thessa 
lonians  iii.  14 :  "And  if  any  man  obeyeth  not  our  word 
by  this  epistle,  note  that  man,  that  ye  have  no  company 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  33 

with  him  to  the  end  that  he  may  be  ashamed.  And 
yet  count  him  not  as  an  enemy,  but  admonish  him  as 
a  brother!'  The  extremest  possible  condemnation 
is  suggested  by  the  language  in  Galatians  i.  8,  9 : 
"But  though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  sJiould 
preach  unto  you  any  gospel  other  than  that  which  we 
preached  unto  you,  let  him  be  anathema.  As  we  have 
said  before,  so  say  I  now  again,  if  any  man  preacheth 
unto  you  any  gospel  other  than  that  which  ye  received, 
let  him  be  anathema'.'  In  the  Epistle  to  Titus  *  we 
find  the  following  very  specific  injunction  :  "A  man 
that  is  heretical  after  a  first  and  second  admonition 
refuse:  knowing  that  such  a  one  is  perverted,  and 
sinneth,  being  self-condemned"  This  injunction  seems 
to  be  directly  suggested  by  the  words  of  our  Saviour, 
which  must  be  regarded  as  the  charter  of  the 
Church's  discipline,  and  which  may  possibly  have 
been  committed  to  writing  at  the  time  when  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  were  written.  It  is,  indeed,  true 
that  our  Lord  contemplated  "  offences  against  the 
brethren,"  while  S.  Paul  treats  of  heresy  (which 
his  excommunication  of  Hymenaeus  and  Alexander 
compels  us  to  understand  in  the  technical  sense), 
but  the  transference  of  the  discipline  from  the  sphere 
of  conduct  to  that  of  opinion  would  present  no 
difficulty  to  one  who  held  S.  Paul's  view  as  to  the 
nature  and  claims  of  the  doctrine  he  preached.  The 
Dominical  injunctions  in  S.  Matthew  xviii.  15-17  run 
as  follows :  "And  if  thy  brother  sin  against  thee,  go, 
show  him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone :  if 
he  hear  thee  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he 

*  iii.  10,  ii. 
D 


34  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

hear  thee  not,  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more,  that  at 
the  mouth  of  two  witnesses  or  three  every  word  may 
be  established.  And  if  he  refuse  to  hear  them,  tell 
it  unto  the  Church,  and  if  he  refuse  to  hear  the  Church 
also,  let  him  be  unto  thee  as  the  Gentile  and  the 
publican'1  The  elaborated  discipline  of  the  later 
Church  followed  the  lines  here  laid  down. 

Finally,  the  Apostolic  conception  on  the  one  hand 
of  the  organized  powers  of  evil,  and  on  the  other 
of  the  Church,  appears  to  require  the  association 
of  spiritual  abandonment  with  the  fact  of  exclusion 
from  the  Christian  Society.  A  passage  from  the 
Colossian  Epistle  will  sufficiently  illustrate  this.  The 
Apostle  exhorts  to  thankfulness  for  the  inestimable 
gift  of  the  Gospel.  "  Giving  thanks  unto  the  Father, 
who  made  us  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light :  who  delivered  us  out  of  the 
power  of  darkness  and  translated  us  into  the  kingdom 
of  the  Son  of  His  love"  The  Church  was  a  protected 
sphere,  an  asylum  of  safety  in  a  demon-ridden  world, 
over  which  Satan  wielded  empire.  To  be  thrust  out 
from  the  Church  was  to  be  exposed  without  defence 
to  the  assaults  of  Satan. 


ARBITRATION   IN   THE   ECCLESIA  TO   REPLACE 
LAWSUITS. 

Interposed  between  the  discussion  of  the  Corinthian 
scandal  and  a  fervid  denunciation  of  impurity  is 
a  paragraph  dealing  with  the  subject  of  lawsuits. 
The  disgraceful  inactivity  of  the  Ecclesia  in  the 
matter  of  the  incestuous  communicant  indicated  a 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  35 

singular  inability  to  grasp  the  full  greatness  of  its 
own  position.  The  same  fact  lay  at  the  root  of 
the  practice,  which  had  reached  discreditable  pro 
portions,  of  carrying  disputes  between  Christians 
before  heathen  tribunals.  The  members  of  the 
Church  in  Corinth  were  mostly  drawn  from  the 
humbler  ranks  of  a  Greek  commercial  community. 
They  belonged  to  the  race  and  to  the  class  in  which 
petty  disputes  about  property  have  the  greatest 
importance  and  evoke  the  keenest  interest.  This 
litigiousness  was  bad  in  itself  as  tending  to  strengthen 
a  hard,  grasping  disposition,  directly  opposed  to  the 
spirit  of  Christian  fraternity.  It  was  scandalous  in 
effect,  as  leading  to  a  public  exhibition  before  the 
heathen  of  the  domestic  bickerings  of  the  disciples 
of  Christ.  It  was  distinctly  perilous  as  bringing 
Christians  into  close  contact  with  the  heathen  life, 
out  of  which  Christianity  had  drawn  them,  and  as 
establishing  in  their  minds  a  mean  estimate  of  the 
authority  of  the  Ecclesia.  The  language  of  S.  Paul 
reveals  a  very  keen  perception  of  all  these  mischiefs. 
He  lays  particular  stress  on  the  implied  insult  to  the 
Ecclesia,  and  the  evident  breach  of  fraternity.  The 
analogy  of  the  synagogue  is  plainly  paramount  in 
his  mind.  The  Jews,  under  the  tolerant  sway  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  were  permitted  to  retain  their  own 
judicial  institutions,  and  among  these  were  reckoned 
the  synagogues.  It  is  not  uninteresting  that  at 
Corinth  the  judicial  independence  of  the  Jewish 
community  in  reference  to  certain  classes  of  questions 
had  been  publicly  asserted  by  a  Roman  proconsul.* 

*  Acts  xviii.  15. 


36  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

The  Christian  Ecclesia  in  Corinth  owed  its  origin 
to  a  rupture  within  the  Jewish  synagogue,*  and 
bore  the  aspect,  and,  probably,  advanced  the  claims 
of  a  rival  synagogue.  The  Roman  Government  at 
this  early  period  drew  no  distinction  between  Jew 
and  Christian.  The  privileges  of  the  synagogue 
might  be  appropriated  by  the  Church.  This,  in 
effect,  is  what  the  Apostle  aimed  at.  From  his 
standpoint  the  Jewish  synagogue  in  rejecting  the 
Gospel  had  fallen  into  apostasy  and  forfeited  its 
claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  synagogue.  To  that 
claim  the  Christian  synagogue  was  rightful  heir. 
Lightfoot  thinks  that  S.  Paul's  language  directly 
contemplates  the  judicial  arrangements  of  the 
synagogue,  and  the  antecedent  probabilities  point 
in  that  direction.  In  every  synagogue  there  were 
three  tribunals,  known  respectively  as  the  Bench 
of  Three,  composed  of  duly  ordained  elders,  the 
"Authorized"  or  "  Mumchin,"  whose  members  com 
monly  held  this  office  by  some  special  patent  from 
the  Sanhedrim,  and  "  the  Bench  not  Authorized," 
of  which  the  members  were  elected  by  the  litigants. 
The  first  of  these  courts  dealt  with  ordinary  suits, 
the  second  confined  itself  to  ritual  matters,  and  the 
third  had  the  range  and  the  limitations  of  a  board 
of  arbitrators.  It  is  to  this  last,  according  to 
Lightfoot,  that  S.  Paul  refers  in  the  Epistle.  "To 
this  very  ordinary  bench  among  the  Jews  the  apostle 
seems  to  have  respect  in  this  place,  and  to  prescribe 
it  to  the  Corinthians  for  a  means  of  ending  their 
differences,  which  was  easy,  common,  and  void  of 
*  Ibid.  5-8. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   ECCLESIA  37 

cost  and  charges.  The  Bench  of  Mumchin  one 
may  not  unfitly  call  TOVS  avOevrrj/mevovs,  such  as  were 
deputed  by  authority :  this  Bench  consisting  of  ... 
those  that  were  not  Mumchin,  he  calls  egovOevtj/mevovs, 
not  'vile'  or  'contemptible/  but  such  as  were  'not 
authorized.'  He  exhorteth,  therefore,  that  if  at  any 
time  suits  arise  among  them,  concerning  pecuniary 
or  other  matters,  they  by  no  means  run  to  heathen 
courts,  but  rather  choose  some  private  men  among 
themselves,  as  judges  and  arbitrators  in  such 
matters."  *  This  may  well  have  been  in  the 
Apostle's  mind,  but  it  is  obscured  by  the  indignation 
which  shapes  his  actual  language.  "Dare  [roX/ma] 
any  of  you>  having  a  matter  against  his  neighbour, 
go  to  law  before  the  unrighteous^  and  not  before  t/ie 
saints  ?  or  know  ye  not  that  the  saints  shall  judge 
the  world?  and  if  the  world  is  judged  by  you,  are 
ye  unworthy  to  judge  the  smallest  matters  [KpiTtjplcov 
e\axi<TTwv]  ?  Know  ye  not  that  we  shall  judge  angels  ? 
how  much  more  things  that  pertain  to  tJiis  life 
[/SiarriKa]  ?  if  then  ye  have  to  judge  things  pertaining 
to  this  life  [ft tunica  KpiTtjpia],  set  tJiem  to  judge  who 
are  of  no  account  in  the  ChurcJi.  [TOW  e^ovOevti/mevovg 
ev  Tf  €KK\rj<Tia  TOUTOVS  KaOifcre.]  I  say  this  to  move 
yoti  to  shame.  Is  it  so  that  there  cannot  be  found 
among  you  one  wise  man,  who  shall  be  able  to  decide 
between  his  brethren^  but  brother  goeth  to  law  with 
brother •,  and  that  before  unbelievers?  Nay,  already 
it  is  altogether  a  defect  in  you  [o\w?  //rr^yua  V/JLIV] 
that  ye  have  lawsuits  [/cp//xara]  one  with  another. 
Why  not  rather  take  wrong?  why  not  rather  be 

*   Works t  xii.  pp.  484,  485. 


38  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

defrauded?     Nay,  but  ye  yourselves  do  wrong,  and 
defraud,  and  that  your  brethren'' 

Whether  or  not  this  language  is  to  be  understood 
as  actually  instituting  a  tribunal  in  the  Ecclesia  for 
the  adjudication  of  suits  between  Christians,  certain 
it  is  that  it  became  the  authority  upon  which  such 
institution  justified  itself  in  the  next  century.  The 
change  of  attitude  towards  Christianity  which 
speedily  took  place  on  the  part  of  the  Empire,  and 
led  to  the  settled  policy  of  persecution,  destroyed  the 
protection  which  had  resulted  from  identification 
with  Judaism,  and  rendered  all  Church  organization 
hazardous  and  difficult  Less  and  less  must  dis 
cipline  have  been  a  matter  of  fixed  rules  and  courts, 
more  and  more  must  it  have  taken  the  character 
of  moral  influence.  As  the  theory  of  the  Church 
developed,  the  practical  effect  of  Church  censures 
increased.  Tertullian's  well-known  description  of 
Christian  worship  may  be  adduced.  The  discipline 
was  not  the  less  effective  for  being  purely  moral :  its 
sanctions  were  found  in  the  convictions  of  the  com 
munity.  "  Nam  et  judicatur  magno  cum  pondere, 
ut  apud  certos  de  dei  conspectu,  summumque  futuri 
judicii  praejudicium  est,  si  quis  ita  deliquerit,  ut  a 
communicatione  orationis  et  conventus  et  omnis 
sancti  commercii  relegetur."* 

*  Apol.  39. 


PART  II. 
PRELIMINARY   DATA 


CHAPTER   I. 
THE   EPISTLES   OF  S.    PAUL 

THE  Epistles  of  S.  Paul  form  the  principal 
authority  upon  which  the  student  of  Apostolic 
Christianity  must  build  his  theory ;  and  we  must, 
therefore,  begin  our  present  inquiry  by  briefly 
describing  the  nature  and  importance  of  those 
primary  documents,  with  two  of  which  we  shall  be 
in  this  volume  mainly  concerned.  The  exceptional 
character  of  the  Apostle's  writings  was  recognized 
from  the  first.  An  example  is  found  in  the  second 
Corinthian  Epistle.  "  His  letters,  they  say,  are 
weighty  and  strong ;  but  his  bodily  presence  is 
weak,  and  his  speech  of  no  account." 

These  words  are  the  judgment  of  hostile  contem 
poraries  upon  S.  Paul.  How  far  they  may  express 
a  real  contrast  between  the  personal  insignificance 
and  the  literary  ability  of  the  Apostle  we  can  hardly 
now  appreciate.  Probably  they  have  the  measure  of 
truthfulness  which  belongs  to  malicious  but  successful 
caricature.  S.  Paul  was  not  physically  imposing,* 

*  The  Acts  of  Paul  and  Thekla  (a  second  century  document)  con 
tains  a  description  of  the  Apostle  which,  in  Prof.  Ramsay's  opinion, 
"seems  to  embody  a  very  early  tradition."  It  is  not  nattering. 
Onesiphorus  goes  out  to  meet  S.  Paul.  "And  he  saw  Paul  coming, 
a  man  small  in  size,  with  meeting  eyebrows,  with  a  rather  large  nose, 

41 


42  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

nor  did  his  speech  possess  the  characteristics  of  the 
most  generally  approved  eloquence.  So  far  his 
adversaries  may  be  allowed  to  have  the  advantage 
of  him.  But  even  they  were  compelled  to  admit 
that  "his  letters  were  weighty  and  strong''  [fiapeiai, 
K.  iayvpai.]  Their  reluctant  admission  inadequately 
represents  the  high  estimate  of  these  writings, 
which  has  from  the  earliest  times  obtained  among 
Christians. 

The  importance  of  these  Epistles  is  by  no  means 
sufficiently  indicated  by  the  fact  that  they  form  not 
less  than  one-fourth  of  the  New  Testament.  They 
include  the  earliest  of  existing  Christian  documents : 
the  whole  series  were  written  between  the  years  52 
and  67  of  our  era.  They  have  been  subjected  to 
the  rigorous  examination  of  keen  and  learned,  and 
not  always  friendly  criticism  for  many  years,  and  we 
may  certainly  say  that  the  general  result  has  been  to 
confirm  the  traditional  theory  of  their  authorship. 
"  I  must  needs  believe  that  all  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul 
which  have  come  down  to  us  as  his  are  genuine." 
This  is  the  deliberate  conclusion  of  a  very  learned 
and  acute  scholar,  Professor  Sanday,  and  if  any  object 
that  he  is  a  Christian,  I  will  content  myself  with 
replying,  first,  that  his  Christianity  never,  as  far  as 
I  know,  interferes  with  the  honest  exercise  of  his 
critical  faculty  ;  and  next,  that  his  favourable  opinion 
of  the  Pauline  Epistles  is  shared  by  all  competent 

bald-headed,  bow-legged,  strongly  built,  full  of  grace,  for  at  times 
he  looked  like  a  man,  and  at  times  he  had  the  face  of  an  angel." 
Conybeare  and  Howson  have  put  together  the  traditional  conception 
of  S.  Paul's  appearance. —  Vide  Life  and  Epistles,  chap,  vii.,  end. 


THE   EPISTLES   OF  S.   PAUL          43 

critics  with  regard  to  four,  by  most  with  regard  to 
seven,  and  by  many  with  regard  to  ten  out  of  the 
thirteen  ascribed  to  the  Apostle  in  the  Canon.  The 
Pastoral  Epistles*  are  admittedly  the  most  disputed 
and  the  most  disputable  members  of  the  series,  but 
Professor  Ramsay's  t  recent  and  most  interesting 
discoveries  of  the  actual  relations  which  existed 
between  the  Roman  State  and  the  Apostolic  Church 
have  gone  far  to  strengthen  their  position.  It  may 
be  useful  to  have  before  us  the  list  of  undisputed  and 
practically  undisputed  Epistles.  Undisputed  are  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  the  two  to  the  Corinthians, 
and  that  to  the  Galatians  ;  practically  undisputed  are 
the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  the  Epistle  to 
the  Philippians,  and  that  to  Philemon.  The  rest  are 
disputed,  but  not  very  successfully.  We  may  be 
content  with  the  position  of  most  English  critical 
scholars  that  no  real  case  has  been  made  out  against 
any  of  them.*  In  the  present  state  of  opinion  the 

•  "  There  are  features  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  which  legitimately 
provoke  suspicion.  To  the  best  of  my  belief,  however,  they  are  genuine, 
and  that  not  merely  in  parts  :  the  theory  of  large  early  interpolations 
does  not  work  out  at  all  well  in  detail." — \\QKI ,  Judaistic  Christianity, 
p.  130- 

f  Vide  Church  in  the  Roman  Empire,  pp.  245-251.  "  Incidentally 
we  may  here  note  that  the  tone  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  in  this  respect 
(persecution)  is  consistent  only  with  an  early  date.  It  is  difficult  for  the 
historian  of  the  Empire  to  admit  that  they  were  composed  after  that 
development  of  the  Imperial  policy  towards  the  Christians  which 
occurred  .  .  .  under  the  Flavian  Emperors." 

%  Wcizacker  admits  Romans,  I,  2  Corinthians,  Galatians,  I  Thess., 
Philippians,  i.e.,  six  epistles,  is  doubtful  about  Colossians  and  Philemon, 
and  rejects  the  three  Pastoral  Ep.,  2  Thess.,  and  Ephesians.—  Vide 
Ap.  A%c,  p.  218. 

Harnack  admits  all  the  Epistles  except  Ephesians,  which  he  marks 


44  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

private  Christian  appears  to  have  good  reason  for 
accepting  with  confidence  the  traditional  theory  of 
the  Church. 

These  thirteen  letters  (for  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  which  is  sometimes  reckoned  as  a  fourteenth 
Pauline  letter,  is  agreed  on  all  hands  to  be  the  work 
of  an  unknown  writer  of  the  Apostolic  age),  includ 
ing  the  oldest  Christian  documents,  have  formed  and 
must  always  form  the  starting  point,  and  the  founda 
tion  of  whatever  knowledge  we  can  obtain  as  to  the 
beginnings  of  Christianity.  They  are  the  principal, 
because  the  primary  witnesses  to  the  truth  of  those 
facts  of  the  life  of  Christ,  and  of  that  presentment 
of  the  character  of  Christ,  which  together  form  the 
basis  of  the  Christian  Religion.  The  four  Gospels 
are  alike  anonymous  and  undated ;  the  letters  of 
S.  Paul,  of  which  the  date  is  well  known,  and  the 
authority  cannot  be  denied,  form  a  most  valuable  test 
by  which  to  appraise  the  historical  worth  of  those 
sacred  narratives.  We  shall  see,  in  the  course  of 
our  inquiry,  how  far  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians 
confirm  the  statements  of  the  evangelists.  Again, 
all  Christians  are  agreed  in  deferring  to  the  authority 
of  the  Apostles.  The  most  ignorant  member  of  the 
smallest  and  youngest  sect  appeals  to  that  tribunal 
not  less  than  the  most  cultivated  member  of  the 
most  venerable  Church.  The  Creed  of  Christendom 

as  doubtful,  and  the  Pastorals.  He  thinks  that  the  latter  were  based 
on  genuine  Epistles  of  S.  Paul.  His  chronology  is  remarkable.  He 
places  S.  Paul's  conversion  in  the  same  year  as  the  Crucifixion,  A.  D.  30, 
and  his  death  in  A.D.  64. —  Vide  die  Chronologic  der  alt  lit.y  p.  233,  fol. 
Leipzig,  1897. 


THE   EPISTLES   OF   S.   PAUL          45 

lays  emphasis  upon  the  "  Apostolic  "  character  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  It  cannot  then  be  a  matter  of 
indifference  to  us  what  the  Apostles  actually  taught 
and  ordered  in  the  Churches  which  they  founded. 
And  we  shall  not  well  learn  this  from  the  lips  of 
controversialists,  or  the  assertions  of  partisans.  We 
must  not  pile  together  texts,  and  so  wring  from  the 
New  Testament  some  kind  of  assent  to  the  doctrines 
we  already  have  decided  to  maintain.  We  must 
rather  let  the  Epistles  tell  their  own  tale,  and  bear 
their  own  witness  in  their  own  way. 

The  practice  of  writing  doctrinal  Epistles  may 
have  been  suggested  to  S.  Paul  by  "the  so-called 
Epistles  of  Jeremiah  and  Baruch  and  the  Epistles 
at  the  beginning  of  2  Maccabees.*  The  Old 
Testament  contains  at  least  one  specimen  of  such 
compositions  in  the  letter  sent  by  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  to  the  exiles  in  Babylon. t  Probably  the 
practice  grew  out  of  the  necessities  of  experience. 
The  rapid  success  which  followed  the  missionary 
labours  of  the  great  Apostle  had  scattered  little 
Christian  communities  over  a  great  part  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  How  were  the  new  converts  to 
be  spiritually  governed  except  by  means  of  letters? 
S.  Paul  himself  says  that  he  was  burdened  with 
"anxiety  for  all  the  churches"\  That  anxiety  found 

*  SANDAY,  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  335,  note. 

t  Vide  R£NAN,  S.  Paul,  p.  228.  "La  correspondance  entre 
synagogues  existait  deja  dans  le  judaisme ;  1'envoye  charge  de  porter 
les  lettres  etait  meme  un  dignitaire  attitre  des  synagogues."  This 
whole  chapter  gives  a  most  interesting  view  of  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  Apostle  wrote,  and  the  actual  conditions  of  the  Churches 
to  which  he  wrote.  %  2  Cor.  xi.  28. 


46  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

expression  in  the  Epistles.  From  the  circumstances 
of  their  origin  these  documents  derive  both  loss  and 
gain.  On  the  one  hand,  they  often  deal  with  questions 
which  were  at  the  time  of  urgent  importance,  but 
which  have  long  ceased  to  be  so.  Thus  in  the 
Corinthian  letters  great  space  is  taken  up  with  two 
discussions,  on  the  eating  meat  sacrificed  to  idols,  and 
on  the  due  exercise  of  miraculous  gifts,  neither  of 
which  have  any  direct  reference  to  modern  needs* 
although  it  must  be  allowed  by  all  that  the  Apostle 
so  handles  these  subjects  as  to  provide  principles 
of  Christian  conduct,  which  can  never  be  wholly 
without  relevance  to  Christian  needs.  Directly,  how 
ever,  these  questions  do  not  any  longer  concern  us, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  induce  the  careless  reader  to 
interest  himself  in  them.  Doubtless  we  have  in  this 
circumstance  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  some 
of  S.  Paul's  letters — how  many  we  do  not  know,  but 
certainly  several — have  perished.  One  such  letter  is 
referred  to  in  the  first  Corinthian  Epistle.  "I wrote 
unto  you  in  my  epistle"  (v.  9),  says  S.  Paul,  but  we 
cannot  refer  to  the  passage  for  the  Epistle  no  longer 
survives.  In  the  closing  verses  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Colossians  we  perhaps  have  another  lost  letter 
mentioned.  "  When  this  epistle  hath  been  read  among 
you,  cause  that  it  be  also  read  in  the  church  of  the 
Laodiceans ;  and  that  ye  also  read  the  epistle  from 
Laodicea"*  The  Epistle  to  Laodicea,  however,  has 
perished,  unless  the  supposition  be  correct  that  it 
is  to  be  identified  with  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians. 
There  is  an  expression  in  the  second  Epistle  to  the 
*  Col.  iv.  16. 


THE   EPISTLES   OF   S.   PAUL  47 

Thessalonians  which  seems  to  indicate  that  several 
letters  had  preceded  that  Epistle,  which  is  probably 
the  earliest  in  date  of  all  the  existing  letters  save  its 
predecessor  to  the  same  Church.  "  The  salutation  of 
me,  Paul,  with  mine  own  hand,  which  is  the  token  in 
every  epistle :  so  I  write!'* 

"Every  epistle"  seems  to  indicate  certainly  more 
than  one.  The  emphasis  laid  on  the  Apostle's 
autographf  appears  also  to  show  that  the  practice 
of  forging  letters  was  included  among  the  weapons 
of  his  adversaries.  Earlier  in  the  same  Epistle  S. 
Paul  exhorts  the  Thessalonians  not  to  "be  troubled 
either  by  spirit,  or  by  ivord,  or  by  epistle  as  from  us" 
We  may  take  for  granted  that  the  lost  letters  dealt 
with  matters  of  temporary  though  urgent  importance, 
and  so  speedily  fell  out  of  use  among  Christians,  and 
then,  in  the  troublous  days  of  persecution,  perished 
altogether.  We  may  admit  that  the  study  of  the 
surviving  Epistles  is  hindered  by  the  aspect  of 
obsoleteness,  which  in  some  places  they  present. 

The  gain,  however,  predominates  over  the  loss. 
We  owe  to  the  practical  exigencies  out  of  which  they 
came  that  practical  tone,  that  sound  insight  into  the 
actual  conditions  of  temporal  existence,  that  faithful 
portraiture  of  primitive  Christianity  which  charac- 

*  2  Thess.  iii.  17. 

f  R£NAN,  S.  Paul,  p.  233.  "  Pour  eviter  les  fraudes  nombreuses 
auxquelles  donnaient  lieu  les  passions  du  temps,  1'autorite  de  1'apotre 
et  les  conditions  materielles  de  1'epistolographie  antique,  Paul  avail 
coutume  d'envoyer  aux  Eglises  un  specimen  de  son  ecriture,  qui  etait 
facilement  reconnaissable  ;  apres  quoi,  il  lui  suffisait,  selon  un  usage 
alors  general,  de  mettre  a  la  fin  de  ses  lettres  quelques  mots  de  sa  main 
pour  en  garantir  1'authenticite," 


48  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

terize  these  writings,  and  add  so  greatly  to  their 
interest  and  value.  We  may  say  with  confidence 
that  S.  Paul  was  not  unconscious  of  the  importance 
of  his  Epistles.  That  he  intended  them  for  public 
use  is  evident  from  such  passages  as  that  which 
I  have  already  quoted  from  the  Colossian  letter,  and 
from  the  solemn  adjuration  which  is  added  at  the 
end  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians.  "/ 
adjure  you  by  the  Lord  that  this  epistle  be  read  unto 
all  the  brethren"  (v.  27.)  He  clearly  believed  him 
self  to  be  writing  with  the  assistance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  He  knew  himself  to  be  inspired.  This  is 
evident  from  the  careful  distinction  he  draws  between 
his  own  unassisted  judgment,  and  the  judgment  to 
which  he  was  led  by  the  Spirit.  The  seventh 
chapter  of  the  first  Corinthian  Epistle  provides  some 
very  suggestive  examples  of  such  distinction.  The 
different  expressions  employed  by  the  Apostle 
deserve  careful  notice.  "  This  I  say  by  way  of  per 
mission,  not  of  commandment"  (v.  6.)  "  Unto  the 
married  I  give  charge,  yea  not  I,  but  the  Lord" 
(v.  10.)  "  And  so  ordain  I  in  all  the  churches"  (v.  17.) 
"  Now  concerning  virgins  I  have  no  commandment 
of  the  Lord:  but  I  give  my  judgment,  as  one  that 
hath  obtained  mercy  of  the  Lord  to  be  faithful.  I 
think  therefore  that  this  is  good  by  reason  of  the 
present  distress"  (vv.  25,  26.)  "  She  is  happier  if  she 
abide  as  she  is,  after  my  judgment :  and  I  think  that 
J  also  have  the  Spirit  of  God"  (v.  40.) 

Such  careful  language  does  manifestly  annihilate 
theories  of  verbal  inspiration  ;  but  it  does  not  less 
manifestly  claim  for  the  Apostle's  language  when 
not  thus  guarded  a  special  authority. 


THE   EPISTLES   OF   S.   PAUL          49 

"  Paul  declares  that  he  does  not  teach  of  himself, 
and  that  he  is  but  the  organ  of  Him  who  has  con 
fided  his  mission  to  him.  This  is  what  he  means 
to  say  when  at  the  head  of  some  of  his  letters  he  calls 
himself  'Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  God.' 
He  puts  his  writing  under  the  guarantee  of  Him  who 
intrusted  him  with  it."* 

Largely,  indeed,  these  Epistles  are  polemical, 
concerned  with  the  calumnies  of  bitter  personal 
antagonists,  and  the  false  teachings  of  dangerous 
heretics.  The  language  faithfully  reflects  the  vehe 
mence  of  the  writer's  fear,  or  indignation,  or  joy, 
or  affection.  We  know  that  S.  Paul  was  wont  to 
dictate  his  letters.  Where,  contrary  to  custom,  he 
writes  with  his  own  hand  he  calls  attention  to  the 
fact.  "  See  with  how  large  letters  I  have  written 
unto  you  with  mine  own  hand"  he  writes  to  the 
Galatians.  Similarly,  in  the  little  epistle  to  Philemon, 
we  find  :  "  /  Paul  write  it  with  mine  own  hand,  I 
ivill  repay  it"  But,  in  this  instance,  there  was  an 
obvious  motive  for  emphasizing  the  personal  liability 
for  the  debt  of  Onesimus  which  the  Apostle  under 
took.  In  one  instance  the  amanuensis  interpolates 
his  own  name.  "  /  Tertius,  who  write  the  epistle, 
salute  you  in  the  Lord"\  is  almost  abruptly  intro 
duced  into  the  salutations  with  which  the  Apostle 
concludes  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Two  results  may  be  attributed  to  this  practice  of 
dictation.  On  the  one  hand,  much  would  depend  on 
the  ability  of  the  amanuensis  to  take  down  fully  and 
accurately  the  utterances  of  S.  Paul.  "  One  might 

*  GODET,  Intro,  to  N.  T.,  p.  123.  f  Rom.  xvi.  22. 

E 


50  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

take  down  the  Apostle's  words  verbatim  ;  then  we 
should  get  a  vivid,  broken,  natural  style  like  that  of 
Romans  and  First  and  Second  Corinthians.  Another 
might  not  succeed  in  getting  down  the  exact  words ; 
and  then  when  he  came  to  work  up  his  notes  into 
a  fair  copy  the  structure  of  the  sentences  would  be 
his  own,  and  it  might  naturally  seem  more  laboured." 
It  has  been  plausibly  suggested  that  the  habit  of 
the  amanuensis  may  explain  those  differences  in  the 
"  cast  and  structure  of  the  sentences "  which  are 
apparent  in  the  later  Epistles,  and  have  done 
yeoman's  service  to  the  cause  of  destructive  criticism 
in  the  hands  of  the  Germans.  On  the  other  hand, 
as  has  been  already  hinted,  speech  is  a  much  more 
facile  instrument  of  expression  than  writing.  The 
astonishing  irregularity  which  marks  the  glowing 
eloquence  of  the  Apostle  is  easily  explicable  if  the 
language  be  regarded  as  the  unrestrained  outpouring 
of  his  thoughts  as  they  rushed  to  his  lips  clothed 
in  the  words  which  first  presented  themselves  to  his 
mind.  There  is  precisely  the  aspect  which  we  might 
expect  to  find  in  a  speech,  but  which  surprises  us 
in  an  essay. 

The  Epistles  were  carried  to  their  destination  by 
disciples  in  whom  S.  Paul  had  confidence.  Some 
times  the  messenger  is  mentioned  and  specially 
commended  to  the  Church.  "/  commend  unto  you 
Phoebe  our  sister"  occurs  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans.*  Probably  she  was  intrusted  with  that 
letter.  "All  my  affairs  shall  Tychicus  make  known 
unto  you>  the  beloved  brother  and  faithful  minister 

*  xvi.  I. 


THE   EPISTLES   OF  S.   PAUL  51 

in  the  Lord :  whom  I  have  sent  unto  you  for  this 
very  purpose,  that  ye  may  know  our  estate,  and  that 
he  may  comfort  your  hearts :  together  with  Onesimus 
the  faithful  and  beloved  brother  that  is  one  of  you"* 
We  may  conclude  that  Tychicus  was  the  bearer  of 
the  Epistle  to  Colossae ;  we  know  that  Onesimus 
carried  a  private  letter  to  Philemon,  the  master 
from  whom  he  had  in  former  days  run  away  under 
discreditable  circumstances. 

We  must  remember  that  communications  were 
easy  within  the  Roman  Empire.  Railways  and 
telegraphs  were  indeed  unknown  ;  but  roads  were 
excellent,  and  there  was  a  regular  and  efficient 
system  of  posts.  It  is  probable  that  in  the  matter 
of  material  civilization  the  Roman  Empire  of  S. 
Paul's  day  has  not  found  its  equal  until  the  present 
century.! 

Finally,  we  must  remember  the  necessary  limita 
tions  of  the  witness  which  Epistles,  prompted  by 
practical  emergencies,  and  often  directed  to  con 
ditions  of  life  and  thought  which  were  transitory, 
and  have  in  fact  long  since  passed  away,  can  yield 
to  the  great  subject  of  Christianity.  If  we  expect 
to  find  in  S.  Paul's  Letters  a  methodical  and  detailed 
exposition  of  the  Christian  Creed,  we  shall  certainly 
be  disappointed.  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans  most 
nearly  corresponds  to  our  idea  of  a  theological 
treatise,  and  even  in  that  instance  the  corres 
pondence  is  not  very  close.  Still  less  shall  we 
find  in  these  letters  a  complete  system  of  Church 
polity.  If  we  look  to  discover  in  them  the  model 

*  Col.  iv.  7-9.  f  GIBBON,  Decline  an.i  l-'a  /,  chap.  ii. 


52  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

of  any  existing  ecclesiastical  system,  we  shall 
certainly  find  them  contradict  our  expectations. 
S.  Paul  was  writing  to  Christian  people,  and  he 
takes  for  granted  their  acquaintance  with  and  belief 
of  the  Christian  Faith.  What  the  Christian  Faith 
involves  in  the  matter  of  articles  of  belief  it  is  not 
hard  to  discover  by  legitimate  inference  from  the 
Letters ;  but  it  is  nowhere  expressly  stated,  except, 
indeed,  with  reference  to  certain  fundamental  truths, 
upon  which  the  Apostle  is  led  to  insist  by  the 
necessities  of  polemical  argument.  So  with  regard 
to  Church  government.  We  may  infer  with  more 
or  less  probability  what  the  system  was,  but  it  is 
nowhere  formally  declared.  The  Church  at  that 
early  period  was  taking  shape,  and  the  agents 
which  influenced  the  final  result  were  neither  few 
nor  simple.  Certain  elements  existed  which  were 
derived  from  the  ultimate  authority  of  our  Lord  ; 
certain  principles  were  accepted  which  derived  their 
origin  from  no  inferior  source;  there  was  an  .intense 
conviction  of  the  presence  and  guiding  action  within 
the  Christian  Society  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  there 
existed  in  S.  Paul  a  singularly  rich,  strong,  original 
character :  in  his  converts  a  wealth  of  material, 
almost  infinitely  diverse  in  quality,  and  subjected 
to  the  formative  influence  of  the  most  various  forces. 
The  Epistles  reveal  the  process  of  settlement, 
of  definition,  of  development  which  created  the 
Catholic  Church  of  Christian  History.  The  source 
and  character  of  the  process  are  thus  described  by 
the  great  Apostle  in  a  passage  from  the  Epistle, 
which  will  form  the  principal  authority  in  our  present 
inquiry : — 


THE   EPISTLES   OF   S.   PAUL  53 

"Now  there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same 
Spirit.  And  there  are  diversities  of  ministrations, 
and  the  same  Lord.  And  there  are  diversities  of 
workings,  but  the  same  God  who  worketh  all  things 
in  all.  But  to  each  one  is  given  the  manifestation 
of  the  Spirit  to  profit  withal.  For  to  one  is  given 
through  the  Spirit  the  word  of  wisdom ;  and  to 
another  the  word  of  knowledge  according  to  the  same 
Spirit ;  to  another  faith  in  the  same  Spirit ;  and 
to  another  gifts  of  healings  in  the  one  Spirit ;  and  to 
another  workings  of  miracles ;  and  to  another  pro 
phecy ;  and  to  another  discernings  of  spirits ;  to  another 
divers  kinds  of  tongues  ;  and  to  another  the  interpreta 
tion  of  tongues :  but  all  these  worketh  the  one  and  the 
same  Spirit,  dividing  to  each  one  severally  even  as  He 
will!'*  We  may  add  that  among  the  numerous 
results  of  that  Divine  Energy  working  in  the 
Christian  Society  none  bear  their  origin  more  plainly 
impressed  on  them,  none  have  exercised  a  wider 
and  more  beneficent  influence  in  succeeding  ages, 
none  have  more  fully  secured  the  ratifying  accept 
ance  of  the  general  Christian  conscience  than  these 
letters  of  S.  Paul,  which  even  the  enemies  of 
Christianity  must  acknowledge  to  be  "  weighty  and 
strong"  and  which  Christian  students  in  every  age, 
and  never  more  confidently  than  in  this,  have  believed 
to  be  inspired. 

*  i  Cor.  xii.  4-1 1. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   FOUNDING   OF  THE   CHURCH   IN 
CORINTH 

IT  needs  but  to  glance  at  the  map  to  see  at  once 
that  the  city  of  Corinth  must  have  been  one 
of  the  most  important  of  the  ancient  world.*  It 
"stood  on  the  high  road  between  Rome  and  the 
east,  and  was  therefore  one  of  the  greatest  centres 
of  influence  in  the  Roman  world."  With  its  two 
ports — Lechaeum  on  the  west,  and  Cenchreae  on 
the  east — Corinth  was  a  meeting  place  of  merchants, 
wealthy  with  the  exchange  and  commerce  of  nations, 
luxurious  with  the  lavish  luxury  of  wealth,  profligate 
with  the  shamelessness  of  luxury.  Its  importance, 
both  political  and  commercial,  was  long  standing. 
It  provoked  the  envy  of  monarchs  and  the  more 
malignant  jealousy  of  mercantile  rivals.  The  greatest 
disaster  of  Corinthian  history  had  its  origin  in  "  mer- 

*  GROTE,  History  of  Greece,  vol.  ii.  p.  224.  "  Corinth  in  ancient 
times  served  as  an  entrepot  for  the  trade  between  Italy  and  Asia 
Minor,  goods  being  unshipped  at  Lechceum,  the  port  on  the  Corinthian 
Gulf,  and  carried  by  land  across  to  Kenchrese,  the  port  on  the 
Saronic ;  indeed,  even  the  merchant  vessels  themselves  when  not 
very  large  were  conveyed  across  by  the  same  route."  For  a  descrip 
tion  of  the  remains  of  the  ancient  city  see  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  art. 
"Corinth."  Stanley  has  a  picturesque  account  of  the  outward  aspect 
of  the  city  in  S.  Paul's  age :  v.  Corinthians ',  p.  5. 

54 


THE  CHURCH   IN   CORINTH  55 

cantile  selfishness,"  which  was  strong  enough  to 
overcome  in  the  Roman  mind  that  admiration  for 
all  things  Greek,  which  generally  influenced  the 
attitude  of  the  Republic  towards  the  communities 
of  Hellas.*  In  the  year  146  B.C.  the  Consul 
Mummius  had  besieged  and  taken  Corinth.  The 
sack  of  the  city  was  memorable  both  for  its  ruthless 
character,  and  for  the  considerable  effect  produced 
by  the  transference  to  Rome  of  the  numerous  art- 
treasures  of  the  greatest  centre  of  Greek  life.  "  The 
town  was  stripped  of  everything  of  value,  and  the 
works  of  art,  pictures,  statues,  and  ornaments  of 
every  description  were  collected  for  transport  to 
Italy.  Much,  however,  was  spoilt  by  the  greedy 
and  ignorant  soldiers,  and  Polybius — who  had  lately 
returned  from  a  similar  spectacle  at  Carthage — saw 
some  of  the  finest  pictures  thrown  on  the  ground 
and  used  as  dice-boards.  .  .  .  Corinth  was  then 
dismantled  and  burnt,  and  remained  a  mere  village 
until  its  restoration  in  46  by  Caesar."  f  The  sack 
of  Corinth  had  taken  place  about  two  centuries 
before  the  arrival  of  S.  Paul,  but  the  memory  of 
disasters  lingers  long,  and  we  know  that  there  existed 
in  the  restored  city  some  relics — temples  or  other 
public  buildings — which  had  escaped  both  the  fierce 
ness  of  the  flames  and  the  violence  of  the  plunderers, 
surviving  to  perpetuate  the  tradition  of  the  great 
overthrow  from  which  they  had  emerged.  We  have 

*  MOMMSEN,  Provinces  of  tht  Roman  Empire,  vol.  i.  p.  257.  •'  In 
the  treatment  of  Corinth  mercantile  selfishness  had,  after  an  ill- 
omened  fashion,  shown  itself  more  powerful  than  all  Philhellenism." 

t  SHUCKBURGH,  Hist,  of  Rome,  p.  525. 


56  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

a  parallel  in  our  own  history.  Rather  more  than 
two  centuries  have  elapsed  since  the  Great  Fire  of 
London  in  Charles  II. 's  reign  ;  but  the  memory  of 
that  immense  conflagration  is  still  green  among  us. 
We  may  detect  a  reference  to  the  sack  of  Corinth 
in  S.  Paul's  description  of  that  fire  of  the  Divine 
Judgment,  which  will  consume  everything  that  is 
not  precious  and  solid.  "  But  if  any  man  buildeth  on 
the  foundation  gold,  silver,  costly  stones,  wood,  hay, 
stubble ;  each  man's  work  sJiall  be  made  manifest :  for 
tJie  day  shall  declare  it,  because  it  is  revealed  in  fire ; 
and  the  fire  itself  shall  prove  each  man's  work  of  ivhat 
sort  it  is."* 

For  a  century  Corinth  remained  in  desolation,  and 
then  a  new  era  in  its  history  began,  when  "the 
greatest  of  all  Romans  and  of  all  Philhellenes,  the 
dictator  Caesar,"  made  "  the  atonement  for  the  sack 
of  Corinth"  by  re-founding  the  city  as  a  Roman 
colony.  This  was  in  the  year  46  B.C.  S.  Paul  came 
to  the  new  city  in  the  year  52  A.D.  In  this •  com 
paratively  short  period  of  98  years  the  growth  of 
Corinth  had  been  extremely  rapid.  "  The  Greek 
merchants,  who  had  fled  on  the  Roman  conquest  to 
Delos  and  the  neighbouring  coasts,  returned  to  their 
former  home.  The  Jews  settled  themselves  in  a 
place  most  convenient  both  for  the  business  of  com 
merce  and  for  communication  with  Jerusalem.  Thus, 
when  S.  Paul  arrived  at  Corinth  after  his  sojourn  at 
Athens,  he  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  a  numerous 
population  of  Greeks  and  Jews.  They  were  probably 
far  more  numerous  than  the  Romans,  though  the  city 

*  I  Cor.  !ii.  12,  13. 


THE  CHURCH   IN   CORINTH  57 

had  the  constitution  of  a  colony,  and  was  the  metro 
polis  of  a  province."*  Corinth,  moreover,  was  associ 
ated  with  the  famous  Isthmian  games,  which  every 
second  year  attracted  a  vast  concourse  of  Greeks. 
It  seems  probable  that,  during  his  residence  in  the 
city,  the  Apostle  actually  was  present  during  the 
games:f  it  is  certain  that  he  was  both  interested  in 
them  and  familiar  with  the  rules  under  which  they 
were  carried  on.  Many  allusions  to  athletics  may  be 
found  in  his  Epistles.  It  will  suffice  to  quote  one 
from  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  He  com 
pares  the  Christian  to  an  athlete  contending  in  the 
foot-races  which  were  the  favourite  contests  of  the 
ancient  Greeks.  "  Kncnv  ye  not  that  they  which  run 
in  a  race  run  all,  but  one  receive th  the  prize  ?  Even  so 
run  that  ye  may  attain.  And  every  man  that  striveth 
in  the  games  is  temperate  in  all  things.  Now  they  do 
it  to  receive  a  corruptible  crown ;  but  we  an  incor 
ruptible.  I  therefore  so  run,  as  not  uncertainly ;  so 
fight  I,  as  not  beating  the  air ;  but  I  buffet  my  body, 
and  bring  it  into  bondage:  lest  by  any  means,  after 
that  I  have  preached  to  others,  I  myself  should  be 
rejected?  \  The  visitor  to  the  site  of  ancient  Corinth 
will  be  able  to  trace  the  remains  of  the  Posidonium 
or  sanctuary  of  Neptune,  the  scene  of  the  Isthmian 
games.  "  The  exact  site  of  the  temple  is  doubtful, 
and  the  objects  of  interest,  which  Pausanias  describes 
as  seen  by  him  within  the  enclosure,  have  vanished ; 

*  CONYBEARE  and  HOWSON,  xii. 

t  "  It  may  be  confidently  concluded  that  he  was  there  at  one  of  the 
festivals.   (Ibid.  c.  xx.) 
%  I  Cor.  ix.  24-27. 


58  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

but  to  the  south  are  the  remains  of  the  stadium, 
where  the  foot-races  were  run  ;  to  the  east  are  those 
of  the  theatre,  which  was  probably  the  scene  of  the 
pugilistic  contests  ;  and  abundant  on  the  shore  are 
the  small  green  pine  trees,  which  gave  the  fading 
wreath  to  the  victors  in  the  games."*  Religiously 
Corinth  enjoyed  an  evil  prominence  as  the  centre  of 
"  the  abandoned  and  unclean  worship  of  Aphrodite, 
to  whose  temple  more  than  a  thousand  priestesses 
of  loose  character  were  attached."  This  circum 
stance  may  explain  the  anxious  and  reiterated 
emphasis  on  the  duty  of  purity  which  marks  the 
Epistles  to  Corinth,  and  the  constant  association  in 
S.  Paul's  thought  of  idolatry  with  sensuality. 

The  record  of  the  founding  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  Corinth  is  contained  in  the  i8th  chapter  of  the 
Book  of  the  Acts.  "After  these  things  (i.e.,  the  visit 
to  Athens  and  disputation  there  with  the  philosophers) 
he  departed  from  A  thcns  and  came  to  Corinth.  A  nd  he 
found  a  certain  Jew  named  Aquila,  a  man  of  Pontus 
by  race,  lately  come  from  Italy,  with  his  wife  Priscilla> 
because  Claudius  had  commanded  all  the  Jews  to  depart 
from  Rome?  We  may  notice  the  reference  to  Imperial 
history.  The  Roman  historian  Suetonius,  who,  though 
writing  at  a  later  date,  probably  reproduces  the  words 
of  a  contemporary  document,  states  that  this  edict  of 
Claudius  was  occasioned  by  disturbances  at  Rome  led 
by  one  Chrestus,  by  whom  we  must  understand  the 
leader  of  the  Chrestians  or  Christians,  whom  the  ill- 
informed  Romans  supposed  to  be  still  living.  The 
narrative  proceeds: — "And  he  came  unto  them;  and 

•  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  art.  "Corinth." 


THE  CHURCH   IN   CORINTH  59 

because  he  was  of  the  same  trade,  he  abode  with  them, 
and  they  wrought;  for  by  their  trade  they  were  tent- 
makers."  We  have  here  an  interesting  indication  of 
the  strict  Rabbinic  influences  under  which  S.  Paul  had 
been  brought  up.  The  Rabbis  strongly  insisted  that 
every  boy  ought  to  be  taught  a  trade.  "  He  that 
teacheth  not  his  son  a  trade,  doth  the  same  as  if  he 
taught  him  to  be  a  thief"  is  a  saying  of  Rabbi  Judah. 
We  may  learn  from  the  Epistles  how  great  store  the 
Apostle  set  by  the  independence  which  his  ability  to 
earn  his  own  living  secured  to  him.  He  made  the 
Gospel  without  charge  to  his  converts.  He  took 
advantage  of  no  man.  "  Ye  yourselves  know"  he  said 
to  the  Ephesian  presbyters,  "  that  these  hands  minis 
tered  unto  my  necessities,  and  to  them  that  were  with 
me"*  Following  his  custom  in  every  city  where  the 
Jews  were  numerous,  S.  Paul  first  addressed  himself 
to  the  authorities  of  the  synagogue.  Doubtless  the 
scene  in  Pisidian  Antioch  was  repeated  in  Corinth. 
"After  the  reading  of  the  law  and  the  prophets  the 
rulers  of  the  synagogue  sent  unto  them,  saying,  Brethren^ 
if  ye  have  any  word  of  exhortation  for  the  people,  say 
on"\  The  Apostle  at  first  met  with  considerable 
success.  The  earlier  stages  of  his  preaching  con 
tained  little  that  would  offend  the  prejudices  of  his 
hearers,  while  his  fervent  loyalty  to  the  spiritual 
destiny  of  Israel,  his  profound  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  his  earnest  eloquence  would  go  far  to 
conciliate  the  most  suspicious.  A  change,  however, 
happened  when  he  passed  on  to  the  central  element 
of  his  message.  "  But  when  Silas  and  Timothy  came 

*  Acts  xx.  34.  f  Ibid.  xiii.  15. 


6o  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

down  from  Macedonia,  Paul  was  constrained  by  the 
Word  (cn/i/6/x€To  ra>  Ao'yo>),  testifying  to  the  Jews  that 
Jesus  was  the  Christ''  It  is  not  easy  to  connect  the 
arrival  of  S.  Paul's  companions  with  his  increased 
energy  in  preaching.  It  has  been  suggested  that 
they  brought  a  supply  of  money,  and  so  enabled  the 
Apostle  to  leave  tent-making  and  give  himself  up 
wholly  to  his  preaching.  It  is  certainly  true  that  the 
Philippians  did  minister  to  S.  Paul's  necessities,  for  he 
gratefully  acknowledges  their  bounty  in  his  Epistle  to 
them  (iv.  15);  but  it  seems  difficult  to  reconcile  this 
sense  with  the  structure  of  the  passage  in  the  Acts. 
We  may  learn  from  S.  Paul's  own  account  of  his 
preaching  at  Corinth  that  it  presented  marked 
features.  "And  I,  brethren"  so  he  writes  to  the 
Corinthians,  "  wJten  I  came  unto  you,  came  not  with 
excellency  of  speech  or  of  wisdom,  proclaiming  to  you  the 
mystery  of  God.  For  I  determined  not  to  know  any 
thing  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified. 
A  nd  I  was  with  you  in  weakness,  and  in  fear,  and  in 
much  trembling.  And  my  speech  and  my  preaching 
were  not  in  persuasive  words  of  wisdom,  but  in  demon 
stration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power :  that  your  faith 
should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  ttie  power 
ofGod."(\\.  1-5.) 

Perhaps  the  Apostle  looked  back  with  half-regret 
ful  feelings  on  his  disputation  at  Athens,  when  he 
had  laid  aside  the  manner  of  an  apostle  in  order  to 
contend  in  the  character  of  a  sophist  with  the 
sophists  of  the  Athenian  schools.  "  It  would 
appear,"  observes  Professor  Ramsay,  "  that  Paul  was 
disappointed  and  perhaps  disillusioned  by  his  ex- 


THE   CHURCH    IN    CORINTH  61 

perience  in  Athens."*  Certainly  his  insistence  on 
the  crucifixion  of  the  Messiah  would  be  as  offensive 
to  the  Jews  as  it  was  ridiculous  to  the  philosophers. 
We  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  opposition  mani 
fested  itself,  and  soon  took  a  violent  form.  The 
Apostle  was  little  disposed  to  conciliate  or  com 
promise  with  the  Jews.  "And  when  they  opposed 
themselves,  and  blasphemed,  he  shook  out  his  raiment, 
and  said  unto  them,  Your  blood  be  upon  your  own 
heads  ;  I  am  clean :  from  henceforth  I  will  go  unto 
the  Gentiles.  And  he  departed  thence,  and  went  into 
the  house  of  a  certain  man  named  Titus  Justus,  one 
that  worshipped  God,  whose  house  joined  Jiard  to  the 
synagogue.  And  Crispus,  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue, 
believed  in  the  Lord  with  all  his  house ;  and  many  of 
the  Corinthians  hearing  believed,  and  were  baptized" 
The  open  breach  with  the  synagogue  must  have 
taken  place  sooner  or  later,  wherever  the  Gospel 
was  preached  in  the  synagogue ;  here  in  Corinth 
the  process  was  carried  through  by  the  Apostle  him 
self.  The  house  of  the  converted  proselyte  became 
the  first  independent  Christian  Church ;  for  the  first 
time  the  connection  with  the  venerable  system  of 
Judaism  was  repudiated ;  Christianity  stood  out  in 
its  true  character  as  a  new  religion.  This  important 
event  took  place  amid  circumstances  of  great  dis 
turbance  and  difficulty,  which,  however,  eventually 
turned  out  to  the  furtherance  of  the  Christian  cause. 
S.  Paul  had  clearly  gauged  the  critical  character  of 
his  action,  and  braced  himself  for  conflict.  He  was 
inwardly  strengthened  by  renewed  assurance  of  the 

*  S.  Paul,  tht  Traveller  and  the  Roman  Citizen,  p.  252. 


62  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Divine  Protection.  "  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Paid  in 
tJie  night  by  a  vision,  Be  not  afraid,  but  speak,  and  hold 
not  thy  peace :  for  I  am  with  t/iee,  and  no  man  shall 
set  on  thce  to  harm  thee :  for  I  have  much  people  in  this 
city.  And  Jie  dwelt  there  a  year  and  six  months,  teacli- 
ing  the  Word  of  God  among  tliem"  We  can  imagine 
how  bitter  were  the  feelings  with  which  the  Jews 
regarded  the  seceders  from  the  synagogue.  Corinth 
had  easy  communication  by  sea  with  Palestine.  We 
may  be  sure  that  the  malignant  enemies  of  S.  Paul  at 
Jerusalem  exerted  their  influence  to  stimulate  and 
organize  the  opposition  against  him  in  Corinth.  An 
opportunity  for  action  was  provided  by  the  arrival  in 
the  city  of  a  new  proconsul  of  Achaia.  "  But  when 
Gallio  was  proconsul  of  Achaia,  the  Jews  with  one 
accord  rose  up  against  Paul,  and  brought  him  before 
the  judgment  seat,  saying,  This  man  persuadeth  men 
to  worship  God  contrary  to  the  law.  But  when  Paul 
was  about  to  open  his  mouth,  Gallio  snid  unto  the  Jews, 
If  indeed  it  were  a  matter  of  wrong  or  of  wicked 
villany,  0  ye  Jews,  reason  would  that  I  sJiould  bear 
with  you :  but  if  they  are  questions  about  words  and 
names  and  your  own  law,  look  to  it  yourselves  ;  I  am 
not  minded  to  be  a  judge  of  these  matters" 

"  It  is  clear,"  observes  Professor  Ramsay,  "  that 
Gallio's  short  speech  represents  the  conclusion  of  a 
series  of  inquiries,  for  the  accusation,  as  it  is  quoted, 
does  not  refer  to  words  or  names,  but  only  to  the 
law.  But  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  Jews 
put  their  accusation  at  first  in  a  serious  light,  with 
a  view  to  some  serious  penalty  being  inflicted ;  and 
Gallio,  on  probing  their  allegations,  reduced  the 


THE   CHURCH    IN   CORINTH  63 

matter  to  its  true  dimensions  as  a  question  that 
concerned  only  the  self-administering  community  of 
'the  Nation  of  the  Jews  in  Corinth.'"*  The 
governor's  action  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the 
Greeks  of  Corinth,  with  whom  the  Jews  were 
probably  extremely  unpopular.  A  demonstration 
of  public  feeling  was  made  in  the  very  presence  of 
the  proconsul.  "They  all"  (*>.,  the  Greeks)  "laid 
hold  on  Sosthenes,  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue^  and  beat 
him  before  the  judgment  seat."  Even  this  violence  did 
not  disturb  the  placid  mind  of  Gallio.  He  "cared 
for  none  of  these  things''  Shortly  afterwards  Paul 
himself  left  Corinth,  and  sailed  for  Syria.  It  is 
curious  that  precisely  at  this  time,  when  his  relations 
with  the  Jews  were  so  strained,  and  when  he  had 
himself  conducted  an  open  secession  from  their 
synagogue,  we  should  read  of  his  performing  a 
ritual  act  required  by  Jewish  law.  He  shaved  his 
head  in  Cenchreae ;  for  he  had  a  vow.  Perhaps  he 
was  already  preparing  for  his  encounter  with  the 
intensely  Judaistic  Church  of  Jerusalem,  in  which  he 
knew  himself  to  be  the  object  of  general  suspicion, 
and  not  a  little  positive  hostility.  He  was  acting  on 
that  conciliatory  principle  which  he  had  laid  aside 
in  the  conflict  with  the  Corinthian  Jews,  but  which 
marked  his  conduct  at  Jerusalem.  "  /  am  become  all 
things  to  all  men,  that  I  may  by  all  means  save  some," 
is  his  own  account  of  himself.  The  episode  before 
the  proconsul's  judgment  seat  illustrates  the  neutral 
attitude  which,  in  the  earliest  period  of  Church 
History,  was  maintained  by  the  Roman  Government 

*  S.  Paul,  pp.  258-9. 


64  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

towards  Christianity.  At  the  same  moment  the 
sharpest  contrast  was  presented  between  the  fanati 
cal  hatred  of  the  Jews  and  the  impartial  justice  of 
the  Empire.  The  impression  made  by  the  contrast 
on  S.  Paul's  mind  is  reflected  in  the  Epistles  to  the 
Thessalonians,  which  were  written  during  his  resi 
dence  in  Corinth.  In  no  other  of  his  letters  does 
the  Apostle  write  with  such  bitterness  of  his  own 
nation.  u  Ye  also  suffered  the  same  things  of  your 
own  countrymen  even  as  they  "  (i.e.,  the  Christians  of 
Judaea)  "did  of  the  Jews ;  who  both  killed  the  Lord 
Jesus  and  the  prophets,  and  drave  out  us,  and  please  not 
God,  and  are  contrary  to  all  men;  forbidding  us  to 
speak  to  tJte  Gentiles  that  they  may  be  saved ;  to  Jill 
up  their  sins  alway :  but  the  wrath  is  come  upon 
them  to  the  uttermost'.'  *  This  is  the  language  of 
deep  indignation.  S.  Paul  has  clearly  come  to  the 
decision  that  there  is  no  hope  of  working  through 
the  Jews  or  with  them.  His  separation  of  the 
disciples,  and  organization  of  an  independent  con 
gregation  in  the  house  of  Titus  Justus,  was  but  the 
expression  in  act  of  the  sentiments  he  expressed  in 
the  Epistles  to  Thessalonians.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  gained  a  new  estimate  of  the  spiritual  value  of 
the  mighty  organization  of  the  Empire  which  had 
rescued  him  from  his  adversaries  and  authorized  the 
existence  of  the  Church.  We  may  truly  say  that 
"  the  residence  at  Corinth  was  an  epoch  in  Paul's 
life."  His  view  of  the  Roman  Government  as  the 
providential  agent  for  enabling  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  is  ambiguously  expressed  in  the  second 
*  i  Thess.  ii.  14-16. 


THE   CHURCH    IN   CORINTH  65 

Thessalonian  letter,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  re 
straining  force  which  at  present  checks  the  "  mystery 
of  lawlessness"  and  the  removal  of  which  will  be  the 
signal  for  the  great  catastrophe  of  the  second  Advent* 
In  the  Epistles  to  the  Galatians  and  Romans  his 
language  is  definite  and  clear : — "  The  powers  that  be 
are  ordained  of  God" f 

We  gather  from  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians 
that  the  Church  in  Corinth  was  mainly  composed 
of  Gentiles.  The  name  of  "  Sosthenes  our  brother " 
is  associated  with  the  Apostle's  in  the  opening  verse 
of  the  first  Epistle ;  and  it  is  natural  to  conjecture 
that  he  may  be  identical  with  the  ruler  of  the 
synagogue,  whom  the  rabble  beat  before  Gallio's 
judgment  seat ;  but  there  is  nothing  beyond  the 
identity  of  names  to  show  that  so  conspicuous  a 
success  had  been  vouchsafed  to  the  Church.  The 
general  drift  of  the  Epistles  prohibits  the  notion 
that  any  large  proportion  of  the  Corinthian  Christians 
were  Jews ;  yet  the  numerous  references  to  Scripture 
and  to  the  system  of  Judaism  make  it  certain  that 
knowledge  of  both  was  general  in  the  Church. 
Probably  Titus  Justus,  whose  name  sufficiently 
indicates  that  he  belonged  to  the  Italian  colony, 
and  who  is  expressly  described  as  a  proselyte,  was 
representative  of  many.  The  core  of  the  Church 
in  Corinth,  as  in  most  of  the  great  cities  of  the 
Empire,  was  found  in  the  Greek  proselytes,  who 
possessed  the  Scriptures,  and  attended  the  worship 
of  the  synagogues  of  the  Dispersion. 

*  3  Thess,  ii.  7.         f  Rom.  xiii.  I. 


CHAPTER   III. 
THE   LETTER   FROM   CORINTH 


A^TER  his  acquittal  before  the  tribunal  of 
Gallio,  or  to  speak  more  exactly,  his  escape 
from  trial  through  the  imperturbable  neutrality  of 
the  proconsul,  S.  Paul  yet  tarried  many  days  in 
Corinth  ;*  then,  solemnly  bidding  farewell  to  the 
Church,  he  started  on  a  leisurely  journey  to  Syria 
by  way  of  Ephesus.  While  he  was  visiting  Csesarea, 
and  making  a  general  visitation  of  the  Churches 
which  he  had  founded,  there  came  to  Ephesus  a 
learned  and  eloquent  Alexandrian  Jew,  named  Apollos. 
Ignorant  of  the  Gospel  history,  "knowing  only  the 
baptism  of  John!'  Apollos  "  was  mighty  in  the 
Scriptures"  and  his  reasonings  were  entirely  favour 
able,  so  far  as  they  went,  to  Christianity. 

Happily  Priscilla  and  Aquila  (who  had  left  Corinth 
in  S.  Paul's  company)  had  remained  at  Ephesus 
when  the  Apostle  went  forward  to  Caesarea,  and 
from  them  Apollos  learned  "  the  way  of  God  more 
carefully!'  He  professed  himself  a  Christian,  and 
in  that  character  was  formally  commended  by  the 
Ephesian  brethren  to  the  kindly  reception  of  the 
Corinthian  Church.  His  influence  at  Corinth  rapidly 

*  Acts  xviii.  18. 
66 


THE   LETTER   FROM    CORINTH         67 

extended  ;  especially  in  controversy  with  the  parent 
synagogue  his  labours  were  rewarded  by  great 
success,  "for  he  powerfully  confuted  the  Jews,  and 
that  publicly ',  showing  by  the  Scriptures  that  Jesus  was 
the  Christ?  While  he  was  thus  active  at  Corinth 
S.  Paul  had  returned  to  Ephesus  and  entered  on 
a  lengthened  ministry  there,  which,  though  marked 
by  many  crises  of  danger,  resulted  not  only  in  the 
firm  foundation  of  the  Church  in  Ephesus  itself,  but 
also  in  the  wide  extension  of  Christian  influence 
in  the  province  of  Asia.  Shortly  after  S.  Paul's 
settlement  in  the  city  ominous  reports  reached  him 
from  Corinth.  The  servants  of  Chloe  brought 
tidings  of  divisions  among  the  Christians,  divisions 
which  were  only  the  more  offensive  since  they 
sheltered  themselves  under  the  authority  of  justly 
venerated  names.  Apollos  arrived  from  Corinth, 
and  his  tidings  were  in  the  main  confirmatory  of 
these  reports.  Especially,  he  had  to  tell  of  grave 
departures  from  the  law  of  Christian  purity.  The 
heathen  laxity  in  which  the  Corinthians  had  grown 
up,  and  by  which  they  were  surrounded,  was  assert 
ing  itself  most  manifestly  among  the  baptized. 
S.  Paul  wrote  a  short  Epistle  on  the  subject  of 
purity;  this  Epistle  is  referred  to  in  the  first  of  the 
canonical  writings,  but  has  not  survived. 

Hearing  further  reports  he  determined  to  visit 
Macedonia  and  Achaia  on  his  journey  to  Jerusalem, 
where  his  presence  was  required  in  the  matter  of  the 
general  collection  for  the  poverty-stricken  Christians 
of  Judaea,  which  he  had  agreed  to  make  among  the 
Gentile  converts,  and  which  he  designed  to  serve 


68  APOSTOLIC  CHRISTIANITY 

as  an  assertion  of  unity.  With  this  plan  in  view 
he  sent  on  in  advance  two  of  his  most  trusted 
disciples — Timothy  and  Erastus — with  instructions 
to  organize  the  collection  against  his  own  arrival, 
and  to  rectify  the  disorders  at  Corinth.*  In  the 
interval,  however,  there  arrived  in  Ephesus  a  depu 
tation  from  the  Corinthians,  composed  of  three 
members — Stephanas  and  Fortunatus  and  Achaicusf 
— and  charged  with  a  letter  from  the  Church.  To 
this  Corinthian  letter  S.  Paul  made  answer  in  the 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and  we  are  able 
to  discover  from  the  latter  the  outline  of  the 
contents  of  the  former. 

The  Corinthians  appealed  to  S.  Paul  for  direction 
on  five  matters  of  practical  importance.  The  answers 
of  the  Apostle  are  marked  by  a  tone  of  authority, 
which  makes  it  evident  that  he  regarded  himself  as 
the  supreme  ruler  of  his  converts  in  spiritual  matters. 

I.  The  first  and,  from  some  points  of  view,  the 
most  important  question  in  the  letter  had  reference  to 
the  subject  of  marriage.  It  is  discussed  and  answered 
in  the  seventh  chapter  of  our  Epistle.  The  actual 
inquiry  had  reference  to  celibacy.  Was  it  a  legiti 
mate  state?  Under  what  limitations  and  for  what 
reasons  was  it  to  be  commended?  It  is  not  very  obvious 
to  the  modern  reader  why  such  an  inquiry  should  have 
been  made  ;  but  a  little  reflection,  and  a  study  of 
S.  Paul's  reply,  make  it  evident  that  the  subject  was 

*  Acts  xix.  21,  22. 

t  I  Cor.  xvi.  17,  "And  I  rejoice  at  the  coming  of  Stephanas  and 
Fortunatus  and  Achaicus."  It  will  be  observed  that  the  names  are 
obviously  Gentile. 


THE   LETTER   FROM   CORINTH        69 

both  urgent  and  difficult.  The  relations  of  husband 
and  wife  within  the  married  state  were  rendered 
extremely  complicated  by  the  advent  of  Christianity. 
How  far  did  the  heathen  husband's  authority  extend 
over  the  Christian  wife?  How  far  was  the  heathen 
wife  to  be  considered  subject  to  the  Christian  hus 
band  ?  Did  the  marriage  hold  good  when  one  of 
the  parties  became  Christian  ?  What  was  the  posi 
tion  of  the  children  ?  Might  new  marriages  between 
Christians  and  heathen  be  rightfully  contracted  ? 
How  was  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  spiritual 
equality  of  the  sexes  to  be  reconciled  with  the 
subordination  of  wife  to  husband  in  the  married 
state  ?  What  about  divorce  ?  The  question  of  the 
Corinthians  was  neither  simple  nor  unimportant :  it 
dealt  with  real  difficulties  :  and  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  highest  interests  of  society  were  at  stake 
in  S.  Paul's  treatment  of  it.  Moreover,  in  ancient 
as  in  modern  times,  though  far  more  powerfully, 
there  has  worked  in  devout  minds  that  ascetic 
principle,  which  assuredly  true  in  itself,  does  easily 
lend  itself,  and  has  constantly  lent  itself  to  the  most 
disastrous  errors.  Was  the  single  state  religiously 
preferable  to  the  married  ?  That,  S.  Paul  answers, 
must  be  determined  by  considerations  of  expediency.* 
His  own  opinion  was  that  in  view  of  the  approaching 
Advent  of  Christ,  an  event  which  would  be  preceded 
by  great  catastrophes,  and  in  view  of  the  claims  of 
the  religious  life,  it  was  better  to  remain  single :  but 

*  Cf.  Eph.  v.  22-33.  This  passage  cuts  up  by  the  roots  the  idea  that 
S.  Paul  believed  in  the  superiority  of  the  single  life  in  itself.  His  own 
example  sufficiently  proves  that  he  regarded  it  as  superior  in  some 
circumstances  and  for  some  work. 


70  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

he  refused  to  advance  beyond  that  position.  That 
there  was  any  inherent  spiritual  superiority  in  the 
unmarried  state  he  would  not  allow.  The  false 
asceticism  which  degraded  marriage  found  in  S.  Paul 
the  most  uncompromising  antagonist.  Unmarried  * 
himself,  it  is  yet  to  him  that  we  owe  that  sublime 
doctrine  of  marriage  which  makes  it  the  symbol  of 
the  highest  and  holiest  fellowship,  which  consecrates 
it  as  inherently  spiritual,  and  associates  it  for  ever 
with  the  very  centre  of  Christian  discipleship. 

II.  The  second  question  dealt  with  a  practical 
matter  of  great  urgency.  S.  Paul  answers  it  in  the 
eighth  and  tenth  chapters  of  the  Epistle.  Ap 
parently  there  were  three  inquiries : — 

1.  Was  it  permissible   to  buy  and  eat  the  meat 
publicly  offered  for  sale  in  the  market-place,  although 
it  was  known   that  according  to  custom  the  sellers 
had  offered  it  to  idols  ? 

S.  Paul  replies  in  the  affirmative.  "  Whatsoever  is 
sold  in  the  shambles,  eat,  asking  no  question  for  con 
science  sake :  for  the  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness 
thereof."  * 

2.  Was  it  permissible  for  a  Christian  to  join  with 
his  neighbours  in  the  feasts,  which  were  held  in  the 
heathen  temples,  and  formed,  perhaps,  the  principal 
social  gatherings  ? 

It  seems  probable  that  S.  Paul  has  preserved  the 
actual  language  of  the  Corinthian  letter.  "  Now 
concerning  things  sacrificed  to  idols :  we  know  that  we 
all  have  knowledge :  we  know  that  no  idol  is  anything 
in  t!ic  wurld>  that  '  all  things  are  lawful' "  These 

*  x.  25,  26. 


THE   LETTER   FROM   CORINTH        71 

phrases  were  perhaps  much  on  the  lips  of  the 
Corinthians,  especially  of  those  who  called  them 
selves  the  "strong"  members,  and  regarded  with 
ample  disdain  their  more  scrupulous  brethren.  S. 
Paul  returns  to  the  Corinthian  question  a  twofold 
negative.  Under  existing  circumstances  their  liberty 
to  feast  in  heathen  temples  would  hurt  the  con 
sciences  of  many,  and  so  break  the  supreme  law 
of  charity.  "It  may  be  true,  as  you  say,  that  '  meat 
will  not  commend  us  to  God ' :  that  '  neither  if  we  eat 
not  are  we  the  worse :  nor,  if  we  eat,  are  we  the  better '  : 
but  your  point  of  view  is  wrong :  you  treat  the 
subject  purely  in  its  selfish  aspects."  "  Take  heed 
lest  this  liberty  of  yours  become  a  stumbling-block  to 
the  weak.  For  if  a  man  see  thce  which  hast  know 
ledge  sitting  at  meat  in  an  idol's  temple,  will  not  his 
conscience,  if  he  is  weak,  be  emboldened  to  eat  t kings 
sacrificed  to  idols  ?  For  through  thy  knowledge  he  that 
is  weak  perisheth,  the  brother  for  ivhose  sake  Christ 
died.  And  thus,  sinning  against  the  brethren,  and 
wounding  their  conscience  when  it  is  weak,  ye  sin 
against  Christ"  How  the  petty  ritual  point  grows 
in  S.  Paul's  hands  into  a  nobler  thing,  is  transformed 
until  the  whole  issue  is  lifted  out  of  the  controversial 
atmosphere  of  Corinth  and  judged  at  the  foot  of  the 
Cross !  On  the  other  hand,  the  Apostle  condemns 
the  practice  of  attending  idolatrous  feasts  as  involv 
ing  positive  disloyalty  to  our  Lord.  *  He  apparently 

*  Cf.  I  Cor.  x.  19-21,  with  I  Cor.  viii.  4.  Godet  reconciles  these 
apparently  contradictory  statements  thus: — "Jupiter,  Apollon,  Venus 
assurement  ne  sont  pas  des  etres  reels  :  mais  Satan  est  quelque  chose. 
D'arriere  toute  cette  fantasmagorie  mythologique  se  cachent  des  puis- 


I 

72  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

believed  the  heathen  gods  to  be  demons — a  belief 
which  was  general  in  the  early  Church,  and  there 
fore  any  participation  in  the  heathen  worships  was 
a  homage  of  Satan,  and  apostasy  from  Christ. 
"  What  say  I  then  ?  that  a  thing  sacrificed  to  idols  is 
anything,  or  that  an  idol  is  anything  ?  But  1  say,  that 
the  things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrifice,  they  sacrifice  to 
devils,  and  not  to  God  :  and  I  would  not  that  ye  should 
have  communion  with  devils" 

3.  Finally,  might  a  Christian  accept  a  private 
invitation  to  dinner  in  the  house  of  a  heathen  friend, 
although  the  meat  set  on  the  table  would  probably 
have  been  "  offered  to  idols  "  ? 

Yes,  replies  S.  Paul,  he  may  go,  but  if  his  attention 
is  directly  called  to  the  idolatrous  character  of  the 
meat,  so  as  to  raise  the  question  of  religious  principle, 
he  must  decline  to  partake  of  the  meat.  "  If  one  of 
them  that  believe  not  biddeth  you  to  a  feast,  and  ye  are 
disposed  to  go :  ivhatsoever  is  set  before  you,  eat,  asking 
110  question  for  conscience  sake.  But  if  any  man  say 
unto  you,  This  hath  been  offered  in  sacrifice,  eat  not, 
for  his  sake  that  showed  it,  and  for  conscience  sake." 
(x.  27-28.)  Such  is  S.  Paul's  treatment  of  this 
question,  which  for  so  many  ages  has  ceased  to 
be  urgent  in  the  Christian  Church,  save  where  the 
Corinthian  conditions  are  reproduced  among  the 
newly-founded  Churches  in  heathen  lands.  For 
missionaries  the  subject  has  a  direct  and  living 

sances  malfaisantes,  qui,  sans  etre  des  divinites,  n'en  sont  pas  moins 
tres-reelles,  tres-actives,  et  qui  sont  parvenues  &  fasciner  1'imagination 
humaine  et  a  detourner  sur  des  etres  de  fantaisie  le  sentiment  religieux 
des  nations  pai'ennes  :  de  la  les  cultes  idolatres,  cultes  addresses  a  ces 
puissances  diaboliques  et  non  pas  a  Dieu." — Corinthicns,  ii.  p.  106. 


THE   LETTER   FROM   CORINTH         73 

interest,  and  even  for  other  Christians,  the  members 
of  an  ancient  Christian  Church,  the  Apostle's  teach 
ing  has  a  real  value.  I  have  sometimes  reflected  that 
under  changed  forms  the  inquiries  of  the  Corinthians 
in  the  matter  of  idolatry  still  need  answer.  Many 
devout  disciples  are  distressed  in  conscience  by  the 
apparent  necessity  under  which  they  are  placed  to 
accept  and  in  a  measure  support  an  order  of  social 
life  which  they  are  convinced  is  poisoned  with 
injustice.  They  are  fearful  of  incurring  guilt  by 
maintaining  a  system  which  involves  the  practice 
known  as  sweating,  and  in  their  anxiety  they  are 
sometimes  prepared  to  attempt  very  perilous 
economic  and  moral  experiments.  I  suggest  that 
the  Pauline  principles  might  apply.  "  Whatsoever 
is  sold  in  the  shops,  buy,  asking  no  question  for 
conscience  sake.  .  .  .  But  if  any  man  say  unto 
you,  These  goods  are  manufactured  under  disgraceful 
conditions,  the  work-people  are  oppressed  and  the 
materials  are  adulterated  or  inferior,  buy  not,  for  his 
sake  that  showed  it,  and  for  conscience  sake." 

III.  The  Corinthian  letter  raised  another  question, 
which  again,  at  first,  strikes  us  as  rather  trivial,  but 
which,  on  investigation,  is  found  to  be  of  real  im 
portance.  How  ought  women  to  behave  in  the 
religious  assemblies  ?  Were  they  to  be  veiled  ? 
Might  they  take  part  in  the  conduct  of  worship? 
We  must  remember  that  Christianity  effected  a  great 
change  in  the  position  of  women.  It  was  by  no 
means  easy  to  determine  the  practical  application  of 
that  equality  in  Christ  on  which  all  Christians  were 
agreed.  Moreover,  there  were  considerable  perils 


74  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

involved  in  any  sudden  extension  of  liberty  to 
persons  who  were  quite  unaccustomed  to  its 
possession.  In  the  profligate  atmosphere  of  ancient 
Corinth  these  perils  were  obvious  and  grave.  We 
shall  have  to  return  in  a  later  chapter  to  the  question 
of  the  conduct  of  public  worship  in  the  Corinthian 
Church,  and  I  do  not  propose  to  anticipate  here  the 
discussion  which  will  more  properly  be  undertaken 
there.  It  will  suffice  to  state  that  the  Apostle  insisted 
with  some  show  of  indignation  that  in  the  public 
assemblies  the  Christian  women  should  be  veiled, 
and  that  they  should  take  no  part  in  the  actual 
conduct  of  the  devotions.  "Let  the  women  keep 
silence  in  the  churches :  for  it  is  not  permitted  unto 
tJiem  to  speak ;  but  let  them  be  in  subjection,  as  also 
saith  the  law:'* 

IV.  The  Corinthian  Church  was  richly  endowed 
with  spiritual  gifts,  but  the  sense  of  order  was  frail, 
and  the  temper  of  responsibility  inadequate.  The 
public  assemblies  became  scenes  of  confusion,  almost 
of  conflict.  The  need  of  some  regulations  wherewith 
to  check  anarchic  tendencies  and  to  ensure  a  more 
edifying  conduct  of  the  common  devotions  was 
apparent.  It  is  sufficiently  evident  that  the  Corinthian 
letter  included  a  request  that  the  Apostle  would  deal 
with  the  subject.  The  discussion  of  spiritual  gifts 
forms  the  climax  of  the  Epistle.  The  beautiful 
description  of  the  Church  under  the  metaphor  of 
the  natural  body  has  passed  into  the  very  texture 
of  Christian  thought ;  the  appended  hymn  on  the 
glories  of  charity  or  love  has  taken  its  place  in 
Christian  literature  as  the  unequalled  unity  of 
*  i  Cor.  xiv.  34. 


THE   LETTER  FROM   CORINTH        75 

inspired  thought  and  graceful  though  glowing 
language.*  We  owe  both  to  the  anarchy  of  the 
Corinthian  assemblies.  The  fourteenth  chapter  con 
tains  the  Apostle's  actual  rulings ;  incidentally  it 
enables  us  to  gain  view  of  the  Apostolic  Church 
in  real  life.  We  refrain  from  commenting  on  it 
here,  because  we  shall  have  to  deal  with  the  whole 
subject  in  a  later  chapter.  In  putting  forward  the 
principles  which  ought  to  control  the  exercise  of 
spiritual  gifts,  S.  Paul  makes  a  significant  appeal  to 
those  members  of  the  Corinthian  Church  who 
claimed  to  be  most  richly  endowed  with  these  graces. 
"If  any  man  thinketJi  himself  to  be  a  prophet,  or 
spiritual,  let  him  take  knowledge  of  the  things  which 
I  write  unto  you>  that  they  are  the  commandment  of 
the  Lord"  (v.  37.) 

V.  The  Corinthian  letter  appears  to  have  made 
reference  to  u  the  collection  for  the  saints  "  which  S. 
Paul  had  pledged  himself  to  organize  throughout 
the  Churches  which  he  founded.  In  the  Epistle  to 
the  Galatians  the  Apostle  for  polemical  reasons  is 
led  to  give  an  account  of  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  had  done  this.  He  is  defending  the  cause 
of  Christian  liberty  against  the  Judaizing  fanatics 
who  sought  to  impose  on  the  Gentile  Churches  the 
yoke  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  he  narrates  the  history 
of  his  relations  with  the  "  chief est  apostles"  "James 
and  Cephas  and  John,  they  who  ivere  reputed  to  be 

*  KENAN'S  enthusiastic  description  of  this  thirteenth  chapter  is 
worth  quoting: — "  Emporte  par  un  souffle  vraiment  prophe'tique  au' 
dela  des  idees  melees  des  aberrations  qu'il  vient  d'exposer,  Paul  e'crit 
alors  cette  pa^e  admirable,  la  settle  de  toute  la  litterature,  Chrdtienne  qui 
puisse  etre  compares  aux  discours  de  Jesus." — S.  Paul,  p.  408. 


76  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

pillars"  These  unquestioned  leaders  of  the  Church 
had  not  insisted  on  the  imposition  of  the  Jewish  law. 
On  the  contrary,  "  when  tJiey  perceived  the  grace  that 
was  given  unto  "  S.  Paul  they  had  readily  consented 
to  an  arrangement  by  which,  while  they  themselves 
undertook  the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  he  should 
"go  unto  the  Gentiles"  one  condition  only  they  had 
insisted  upon,  and  that  S.  Paul  was  more  than 
willing  to  fulfil,  "  only  they  would  that  we  should 
remember  the  poor ;  which  very  thing  I  was  also 
zealous  to  do"  It  is  very  evident  that  the  success  of 
this  collection  was  earnestly  desired  by  S.  Paul.* 
It  would  cut  the  ground  from  under  the  feet  of  those 
who  persistently  accused  him  of  disloyalty  to  the 
Mother  Church  of  Jerusalem,  and  it  would  bring 
home  to  his  Gentile  converts  the  reality  of  their 
communion  with  their  Jewish  brethren.  Yet  he  was 
clearly  anxious  as  to  the  reception  which  his  efforts 
would  obtain  at  Jerusalem.  He  requests  the  prayers 
of  the  Roman  Christians  on  his  behalf,  .and  his 
words  convey  the  impression  that  he  had  misgivings 
as  to  the  future.  "  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  love  of  the  Spirit,  that 
ye  strive  together  with  me  in  your  prayers  to  God 
for  me ;  that  I  may  be  delivered  from  them  that  are 
disobedient  in  Judcea,  and  that  my  ministration  which 
I  have  for  Jerusalem  may  be  acceptable  to  the  saints  ; 
that  I  may  come  unto  you  in  joy  through  the  will  of 
God,  ajid  together  with  you  find  rest"  t  That  S.  Paul's 
misgivings  were  justified  by  the  event  is  manifest 
from  the  narrative  in  the  Acts  of  his  visit  to 

*  FiifeHORT,  Romans  and  Ephesians,  pp.  40-44.     f  Rom.  xv.  30-31. 


THE   LETTER   FROM   CORINTH         77 

Jerusalem,  a  visit  which  led  to  his  arrival  in  Rome 
as  a  state  prisoner. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  collection  was  regarded 
both  by  S.  Paul  and  by  the  Corinthians  as  a  matter 
of  considerable  importance.  They  inquire  by  what 
methods  the  money  is  to  be  collected  and  for 
warded,  and  this  is  the  Apostle's  answer:  "Now 
concerning  tlie  collection  for  the  saints,  as  I  gave  order 
to  the  churches  of  Galatia,  so  also  do  ye.  Upon  the 
first  day  of  tlie  week  let  each  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in 
store,  as  he  may  prosper,  tJiat  no  collections  be  made 
when  I  come.  And  when  1  arrive,  whomsoever  ye  shall 
approve  by  letters,  tJiem  will  I  send  to  carry  your 
bounty  unto  Jerusalem :  and  if  it  be  meet  for  me  to 
go  also,  they  shall  go  with  me."*  We  learn  from  the 
second  Epistle  that  the  Corinthians  were  not  so 
zealous  in  this  matter  as  S.  Paul  had  expected  them 
to  be.  No  less  than  two  chapters — the  eighth  and  the 
ninth — are  devoted  to  the  subject,  and  the  embarrassed 
tone  of  the  Apostle  is  very  apparent.  He  courteously 
dwells  on  the  liberality  of  the  Corinthians,  but  he  re 
minds  them  that  "  he  that  soweth  sparingly  shall  reap 
also  sparingly^'  and  that  "  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver'' 

S.  Paul's  answer  to  the  Corinthian  inquiry  con 
tains  the  earliest  reference  to  the  observance  of 
the  "first  day  of  the  week'.'  We  learn  from  the 
record  of  the  Acts  that  the  Christians  of  the 
Apostolic  age  were  accustomed  to  receive  the  Holy 
Communion  on  that  day.  At  Troas  it  is  related  that 
"  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week,  when  we  were  gathered 
together  to  break  bread,  Paul  discoursed  with  them, 


78  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

intending  to  depart  on  the  morrow  :  and  prolonged  his 
speech  until  midnight"*  It  does  not  indeed  appear 
that  S.  Paul  intended  the  Corinthians  to  make  their 
weekly  contributions  at  the  religious  service,  his 
language  seems  rather  to  suggest  that  each  one 
should  set  aside  his  alms  at  home,  and  bring  the 
total  to  the  common  fund  on  the  Apostle's  arrival ; 
but  this  in  no  way  detracts  from  the  significance  of 
the  reference.  The  "first  day  of  the  week"  is 
mentioned  as  a  matter  of  course ;  that  was  the 
obvious  day  which  would  suggest  itself  to  every 
Christian  mind  when  any  matter  connected  with 
religion  was  in  question.  The  explanation  of  this 
prominence,  at  once  unquestioned  and  complete, 
points  to  the  supreme  event  which  was  associated 
in  Christian  thought  with  the  first  day  of  the  week. 
That  event — the  resurrection  of  Christ — stamped  a 
character  of  greatness  and  iov  upon  the  dav.  and  en 
dowed  it  with  the  name  which  has  continued  in  use 
foroug-hout  the  history  of  the  Church,  and  remains 
the  favourite  name  in  the  usage  of  disciples  among 
themselves, — "the  Lord's  Day."  Incidentally  it  is 
worth  noticing  that  the  Apostle  provides  a  very 
remarkable  piece  of  collateral  evidence  for  the 
historic  truth  of  that  Article  of  the  Creed,  which 
perhaps  may  be  described  as  the  foundation  of  all 
the  rest,  "  On  the  third  day  He  rose  again'1 

*  Acts  xx.  7. 


PART  III. 

DOCTRINE 
AND  THE   SACRAMENTS 


CHAPTER   I. 
THE   HISTORIC   CHRIST 

THE  Corinthian  Epistles  were  written  before  the 
canonical  Gospels ;  they  may  represent,  therefore, 
an  earlier  stage  of  the  tradition  about  our  Lord.  By 
carefully  studying  them  we  shall  be  able  to  discover 
what  was  the  original  account  of  Jesus  Christ,  which 
was  circulated  in  the  Church.  If  they  confirm  the 
history  as  it  is  presented  in  the  four  Gospels,  we 
certainly  have  added,  and  that  in  no  slight  measure, 
to  the  strength  of  the  reasons  which  justify  our 
acceptance  of  that  history.  Manifestly  the  inquiry 
which  we  have  in  hand  touches  the  very  centre  of  our 
religion.  Everything  depends  on  the  validity  of  our 
belief  that  the  Founder  of  our  religion  was,  what  the 
Creed  asserts  that  He  was,  the  Son  of  God  ;  that 
being  thus  of  divine  origin  and  essence,  He  yet  was 
very  man  ;  that  His  death  on  the  cross  was  no  mere 
martyrdom  glorious  with  the  barren  majesty  of  un 
equalled  fortitude,  but  an  event,  powerful  for  our 
salvation  ;  that  His  resurrection  was  no  fair  dream 
of  ardent  friendship,  unable  to  reconcile  itself  to  the 
extinction  of  the  hopes  which  had  grown  round  His 
person,  but  a  fact  able  to  bear  the  weight  of  Christian 
faith.  The  truth  of  Christianity  stands  or  falls  with 
G  81 


82  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  truth  of  Christ's  history.  In  the  four  Gospels  we 
have  a  record  of  our  Lord's  life  on  earth,  which  for 
eighteen  centuries  has  been  accepted  as  a  true  record. 
This  century,  however,  has  brought  that  record  under 
the  scrutiny  of  a  vigilant  and  rigorous  criticism. 
Attention  has  been  directed  to  the  discrepancies  in 
detail  between  the  synoptic  evangelists,  to  the  remark 
able  difference  between  the  history  as  presented  by 
those  writers  and  the  history  as  presented  by  the 
author  of  the  fourth  Gospel.  The  discrepancies,  even 
when  the  harmonists  have  tried  their  hardest,  are 
real ;  the  difference  between  the  first  three  Gospels 
and  the  fourth  is  manifest  to  every  student.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  these,  I  do  not  think  any  impartial  person 
will  deny  that  there  is  left  upon  the  student's  mind  an 
impression  at  once  distinct  and  absolutely  unique. 
The  personality  of  Jesus  looks  out  upon  us  from  the 
Gospels,  commanding,  inscrutable,  severe,  vet  beyond 
all  parallel  winning,  tender,  and  pathetic.  That 
personality  constitutes  the  abiding  charm  .  of  tho.se 
writings.  It  is  the  secret  of  the  power  of  Christianity. 
It  is  the  magnet  of  souls,  drawing  out  to  itself  the  in 
voluntary  homage  of  the  good,  the  pure,  the  just  in 
every  age  and  in  every  land.  The  question  proposes 
itself  and  presses  for  answer.  Is  the  impression  left 
on  us  by  the  Gospels  a  just  one?  Is  the  personality 
of  Christ,  presented  in  those  writings,  a  creation  of 
pious  fancy,  or  is  it  a  transcript  from  actual  ex 
perience  ?  In  a  word,  are  the  Gospels  in  the  main 
true  ?  The  inquiry  which  we  have  now  in  hand  will 
help  us  towards  the  answer.  If  we  can  show  that  the 
Gospels  do  certainly  present  the  earliest  form  of 


THE   HISTORIC   CHRIST  83 

Christ's  history,  that,  whatever  else  may  be  said  about 
the  picture  of  our  Lord  which  they  contain,  this  at 
least  must  be  conceded,  that  it  is  the  original  picture, 
the  first,  the  oldest ;  that  in  the  Gospels  we  have  no 
later  growth,  no  developed  tradition,  but  in  its 
essential  features  the  same  version  of  the  life  of 
Jesus  as  that  which  on  the  morrow  of  His  death  was 
accepted  by  the  converts  to  Christianity — then,  I 
submit,  that  we  shall  have  advanced  a  long  way 
towards  the  affirmative  answer  to  the  momentous 
questions  we  have  proposed.  Supposing,  then,  for 
the  sake  of  our  argument,  that  we  had  no  other 
documents  from  which  to  form  our  conception  of  the 
history  of  Christ  than  these  Epistles  to  the  Corin 
thians,  what  should  we  know  about  that  history? 
Or,  to  state  the  same  thing  in  other  words,  what 
account  of  Christ  did  S.  Paul  give  to  the  Corin 
thians  ? 

Let  me  remind  you  that  both  the  Corinthian  letters 
were  written  in  the  year  57.  that  S.  Paul  had  been  at 

that  his  knowledge  of  Christ's  history  must  have  been 
acquired  at  the  time  of  his  conversing  and  fbaf, 
therefore,  the  version  of  that  history  which  these 
Epistles  assume  must  have  been  current  within  the 
first  eight  or  ten  years  after  our  Lord's  crucifixion.* 
It  cannot,  I  think,  be  reasonably  disputed  that 
whether  we  learn  much,  or  whether  we  learn  little 
from  these  writings  about  our  Lord's  life  on  earth, 
what  we  learn  is  certainly  the  original  version  of  the 
history.  We  turn  now  to  the  Epistles  themselves. 

*  This  is  probably  an  under-statement  of  the  facts. 


84  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

The  most  casual  reader  must  be  impressed  by  the 
prominence  of  Christ  in  these  Corinthian  letters. 
Unless  my  counting  is  at  fault  our  Lord  is  mentioned 
by  name  sixty-nine  times  in  the  first  Epistle,  fifty- 
six  times  in  the  second.  There  are,  besides, 
numerous  references  to  Him  more  or  less  direct. 
He  is  referred  to  under  two  names,  "Jesus"  and 
"Christ" ;  often  both  names  are  combined,  "Jesus 
Christ"  or  "  Christ  Jesus"  The  title  which  is 
most  commonly  assigned  to  Him  is  "Lord";  except 
in  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament,  it  would 
seem  that  wherever  "the  Lord"  is  mentioned,  Christ 
is  referred  to.  In  one  place  he  is  emphatically 
described  as  the  "one  Lord"  of  Christians;  and  in 
another  the  recognition  of  His  Lordship  is  referred 
to  as  the  test  of  discipleship.  The  contrasted  for 
mulas  in  the  following  passage  would  seem  to  have 
been  actually  current  in  Corinth.  The  one,  perhaps, 
was  the  battle-cry  of  the  synagogue ;  the  other,  the 
rejoinder  of  the  Church.  "  I  give  you  to  understand, 
that  no  man  speaking  in  the  Spirit  of  God  saith,  Jesus 
is  anathema  ;  and  no  man  can  say,  Jesus  is  Lord,  but 
in  the  Holy  Spirit."* 

Two  events  in  Christ's  History  are  specifically 
dwelt  upon — His  Crucifixion  and  His  Resurrection. 
"  We  preach  Christ  crucified,  unto  Jews  a  stumbling- 
block,  and  unto  Greeks  foolishness."^  S.  Paul  is  fully 
conscious  of  the  unpopularity  of  the  fact  upon  which 
he  constantly  insists.  "  /  determined  not  to  know 
anything  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him 
crucified" \  This  fact  emerges  again  and  again  in  the 

*  i  Cor.  xii.  3.  f  Ibid.  i.  23.  J  Ibid.  ii.  2. 


THE   HISTORIC  CHRIST  £5 

Apostle's  thought.  Does  he  urge  the  necessity  of 
purity,  and  the  jealous  exclusion  from  Christian 
society  of  all  that  endangers  purity?  It  is  the 
death  of  Christ  which  supplies  the  basis  of  his 
appeal.  "  Purge  out  the  old  leaven,  that  ye  may  be 
a  new  lamp,  even  as  ye  are  unleavened.  For  our 
passover  also  Jiath  been  sacrificed,  even  Christ"  " Ye 
are  not  your  own  ;  for  ye  were  bought  with  a  price : 
glorify  God  therefore  in  your  body"  * 

Does  he  seek  an  argument  which  shall  bring  home 
to  the  "strong"  members  of  the  Corinthian  Church 
the  real  meaning  of  that  proud  insistence  on  their 
liberty  to  which  they  clung?  He  finds  it  in  the  Death 
of  Christ.  "  Through  thy  knowledge  he  tliat  is  weak 
perisheth,  the  brother  for  whose  sake  Christ  died"\ 
Does  he  seek  an  explanation  of  that  affliction  which 
shadows  his  apostolate?  It  is  here  that  he  finds 
it.  The  Apostles  are  "always  bearing  about  in  the 
body  the  dying  of  Jesus,  that  the  life  also  of  Jesus 
may  be  manifested  in  our  body"\  Will  he  confess 
the  motive  of  his  passion  for  souls?  It  is  still 
the  Cross.  "For  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us; 
because  we  thus  judge,  that  One  died  for  all,  there 
fore  all  died ;  and  He  died  for  all,  that  they  which 
live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto 
Him  who  for  their  sakes  died  and  rose  a  gain  "^  Do 
the  Corinthians  require  an  explanation  of  the  con 
trast  between  his  lofty  insistence  on  obedience,  and 
his  harassed,  feeble  personality?  He  will  yet  point 
them  to  the  paradox  of  Christ's  Passion.  "  Seeing 

*  Ibid.  v.  7,  8;  vi.  19,  20.  t  Ibid.  viii.  II. 

t  2  Cor.  iv.  10.  §  Ibid.  v.  14-15. 


86  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

that  ye  seek  a  proof  of  Christ  that  speaketh  in  me : 
who  to  youward  is  not  weak,  but  is  powerful  in  you  : 
for  He  was  crucified  through  weakness^  yet  He  liveth 
through  tlie  power  of  God'' * 

Now  this  insistence  on  the  fact  of  the  Crucifixion 
would  be  inexplicable  if  it  stood  alone ;  but  is  not 
so  much  explicable  as  obvious  when  it  is  combined 
with  the  fact  of  the  Resurrection.  Regarded  in  the 
light  of  the  triumph  of  Easter,  the  tragedy  of  Good 
Friday  receives  an  interpretation  which  invests  it 
with  resistless  attractiveness.  "  Wherefore  we  hence 
forth  know  no  man  offer  the  flesh ;  even  though  we 
have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh,  yet  now  we  know 
Him  so  no  morc"\  The  Crucifixion  is  no  longer 
merely  or  mainly  the  central  Infamy  of  human 
history ;  it  is  a  Pageant  of  Divine  Love  ;  it  is  the 
stepping  forth  into  the  vexed  life  of  the  Race  of 
the  Divine  Helpfulness.  "  God  was  in  Christ  recon 
ciling  the  world  unto  Himself,  not  reckoning  unto 
them  their  trespasses,  and  having  committed  unto  us 
the  word  of  reconciliation ."  +  The  Resurrection  is 
affirmed  with  a  solemnity  and  caution  not  inade 
quate  to  its  crucial  importance.  The  Apostle  does 
not  hesitate  to  stake  on  it  the  truth  of  Christianity. 
"  If  Christ  hath  not  been  raised,  your  faith  is  vain  ; 
ye  are  yet  in  your  sins"§  The  testimonies  collected 
together  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle 
are  too  important  to  be  cursorily  noticed  here ;  we 
must  consider  them  separately  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  Institution  of  the  Eucharist  is  related  in  the 

*  2  Cor.  xiii.  3.  t  Ibid.  v.  16. 

"$.  Ibid.  v.  19.  §  I  Cor.  xv.  14. 


THE   HISTORIC   CHRIST  87 

eleventh  chapter,  and  so  close  is  the  parallel  with 
S.  Luke's  Gospel  that  it  leaves  us  in  little  doubt 
as  to  the  source  from  which  the  Evangelist  drew 
some  of  his  materials.  The  form  of  the  account 
as  it  stands  in  the  Epistle  suggests  that  in  liturgical 
use  it  had  already  established  itself.  Reserving  to 
a  later  stage  in  our  inquiry  the  discussion  of  this 
subject,  we  may  here  pause  to  notice  that  the 
Apostle  follows  exactly  on  the  lines  of  the  Gospels 
in  giving  so  great  prominence  to  the  closing  scenes 
of  our  Lord's  life. 

We  learn  that  Christ  was  a  Teacher,  whose 
authority,  indeed,  is  final  in  the  Church.  Twice, 
at  least,  S.  Paul  quotes  the  very  words  of  Christ, 
and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  while  in  both 
instances  the  words  are  fairly  representative  of  His 
teaching,  in  neither  do  the  canonical  Gospels  contain 
the  actual  words  attributed  to  our  Lord.  In  treating 
of  marriage  the  Apostle  lays  down  this  rule  on  the 
authority  of  Christ : — "  That  the  wife  depart  not  from 
her  husband,  and  that  the  husband  leave  not  his  wife!' 
Again,  in  arguing  the  right  of  the  clergy  to  the  sup 
port  of  their  flocks,  he  adduces  as  the  final  considera 
tion  this  precept  of  Christ  that  "  they  which  proclaim 
the  gospel  should  live  of  the  gospel''  It  is  worth 
noticing  that  in  the  farewell  speech  to  the  Ephesian 
presbyters  attributed  to  S.  Paul  in  the  Acts,  there  is 
another  saying  of  Christ  quoted  which  also  is  not 
found  in  our  Gospels.  He  bade  the  presbyters 
"  remember  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  He 
Himself  said,  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive"  (xx.  35.) 


88  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

We  learn  incidentally  that  Christ  had  "brethren" 
and  "apostles"  of  whom  twelve  occupied  a  position  of 
exceptional  importance.  One  of  these  is  mentioned 
by  name,  apparently  as  holding  a  certain  recognized 
pre-eminence  amongst  them — Cephas.  We  also  learn 
that  one  of  Christ's  brethren  bore  the  name  "James" 
11  Have  we  no  right  to  lead  about  a  wife  that  is  a 
believer,  even  as  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  and  the 
brethren  of  the  Lord,  and  Cephas?"  It  is  evident 
that  all  these  were  well-known  persons,  whose 
authority  no  Christian  would  dream  of  disputing. 
In  the  testimonies  of  the  Resurrection  we  find  the 
following:  —  "He  appeared  to  Cephas;  then  to  the 
twelve  .  .  .  then  He  appeared  to  James ;  then  to  all 
the  apostles"}  In  the  second  Epistle  we  are  able  to 
discover  that  within  the  apostolic  college  there  was 
recognized  a  certain  gradation  of  authority.  Some 
were  regarded  as  superior  to  the  rest,  if  not  in 
position  yet  certainly  in  influence.  "/  reckon  that 
I  am  not  a  whit  beJiind  the  very  chief est  apostles" \ 
We  learn  from  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  which, 
you  will  remember,  was  written  about  the  same  time 
as  the  Corinthian  Epistles,  and  is,  like  them,  of  un 
disputed  authority,  that  these  "  chief  est  apostles  "  were 
"James  and  Cephas  and  John? 

Moreover  we  have  in  these  Epistles  no  obscure 
indications  as  to  the  character  of  the  Historic  Christ. 
It  is  assumed  that  the  Corinthians  are  familiar  with 
His  self-abnegation.  "  Ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that,  though  He  was  rich,  yet  for  your 
sakes  He  became  poor,  that  ye  through  His  poverty 

*   I  Cor.  ix.  5.  f  Ibid.  xv.  5,  7.  %  2  Cor.  xi.  5. 


THE   HISTORIC   CHRIST  89 

might  become  rich"*  It  is  evident  that  the  Christ  of 
history  was,  in  worldly  circumstances,  a  poor  man. 
His  character  was  as  notorious  as  his  poverty.  "/ 
Paul  myself  intreat  you  by  the  meekness  and  gentleness 
of  Christ"  \  says  the  Apostle. 

So  far  we  have  been  concerned  mainly  with  state 
ments  of  fact,  and  I  do  not  think  anyone  will  deny 
that  the  agreement  between  the  Gospels  and  these 
Epistles  is,  so  far  as  it  goes,  complete.  The  Gospels 
confirm  and  explain  the  allusions  in  the  letters,  and 
are  in  the  process  themselves  confirmed  and  explained. 
Now  we  may  turn  to  the  position  assigned  to  Christ 
in  these  Epistles,  and  inquire  how  far  it  matches  with 
the  declarations  about  Himself  which  in  the  Gospels 
are  attributed  to  our  Lord.  Here  we  should  expect 
a  large  measure  of  variation  ;  for  here  the  idiosyn 
crasy  of  the  Apostle  would  be  free  to  assert  itself. 
We  shall  find,  however,  that  even  here  the  witness  of 
the  Epistles  to  the  Gospels  is  decisively  favourable. 
We  notice  that  great  emphasis  is  laid  by  S.  Paul  on 
the  Divine  Sonship  of  Christ.  God  is  described  as 
the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ ;  the  description  seems  to 
carry  with  it  a  version  of  the  Divine  character. 
"  The  God  and  Father  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  He  ivho  is 
blessed  for  evermore,  knoiveth  that  I  lie  not"  +  So 
Christ  is  called  "  the  image  of  God"  in  whose  ''face  " 
men  may  perceive  "  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God"%  Would  it  be  possible  to  find  a  better 
comment  on  these  expressions  than  these  words  from 
the  fourth  Gospel : — "  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any 

*  Ibid.  viii.  9.  f  Ibid.  x.  I. 

%  2  Cor.  xi.  ji.  §  2  Cor  iv.  4-6. 


90  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

time ;  the  only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Father,  He  hatJi  declared  Him''*  Christ  is  pre 
sented  in  the  Corinthian  Epistles  as  a  Divine  Being, 
the  object  of  Christian  worship.  The  first  Epistle  is 
addressed  not  only  to  the  "saints"  at  Corinth,  but 
also  to  "all  that  call  upon  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  every  place?  To  have  the  "  mind  of 
Christ"  is  to  "know  the  mind  of"  God.f  His  name 
is  united  with  that  of  God  the  Father  in  the  Bene 
dictions  with  which  the  second  Epistle  opens  and 
concludes.  S.  Paul  prayed  to  Him  in  tribulation 
and  was  strengthened.  He  is  the  Judge  of  the 
world  before  Whose  Tribunal  all  men  must  be  made 
manifest. \  In  His  "day"  the  spirit  of  the  sinner 
who  has  done  penance  for  his  sin  shall  be  saved. § 
He  is  the  "one  foundation"  of  discipleship.|]  He  is 
the  model  which  Christians  must  imitate.  U  He 
governs  the  Church  with  sovereign  authority,  allot 
ting  to  every  man  his  place,  determining  for  every 
office  its  functions.  He  is  the  Head  of  the  mystical 
Body  into  which  Baptism  admits,  and  in  which  the 
Holy  Eucharist  sustains  men.**  His  grace  is  ineffably 
great ;  His  dignity  is  supreme.  Unworthily  to  receive 
the  Holy  Communion  is  to  be  "guilty  of  the  body  and 
the  blood  of  the  Lord?  Yet  while  so  awful  He  is  ever 
near  at  hand  in  watchful  mercy.  He  will  arrange 
the  journeyings  of  S.  Paul  as  well  as  afflict  with 
fearful  penalties  the  unrepenting  sinners.  No  quota 
tions  can  adequately  express  the  intense  conviction 

*  S.  John  i.  18.  t  I  Cor.  ii.  16.  %  2  Cor.  v.  IO. 

§   i  Cor.  v.  5.  0   MM-  »'•  If 

**  Ibid.  xii. 


THE    HISTORIC   CHRIST  91 

of  Christ's  nearness  which  penetrates  these  Epistles. 
S.  Paul  naturally  turns  to  Him  for  guidance,  comfort, 
and  strength.  Nay,  the  astounding  mystery  is 
declared  as  a  matter  so  surely  established  in  the 
Christian  consciousness  as  to  be  the  very  common 
place  of  discipleship  that  Christ  inhabits  the  Christian. 
"  Know  ye  not  as  to  your  own  selves,  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  in  you?  unless  indeed  ye  be  reprobate"* 

The  numerous  references  to  the  Holy  Spirit  are 
not  less  impressive,  and  they  also  tend  in  the  same 
direction.  The  doctrine  of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  no 
where  formally  defined,  everywhere  underlies  S. 
Paul's  language,  and  the  Epistles  conclude  with  a 
formula  which  is  definitely  Trinitarian.  "  The  grace 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and 
the  Communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  with  you  all" 

Now  compare  this  version  of  Christ  (if  I  may  be 
permitted  the  expression)  with  the  version  presented 
in  the  four  Gospels.  Can  it  be  truthfully  said 
that  there  is  any  substantial  discrepancy  between 
them  ?  Is  it  not  rather  manifest  that  the  agreement 
is  remarkably  close  ?  Christ,  as  He  is  described  in 
the  Gospels,  did  claim  to  be  the  Son  of  the  Father, 
the  Light  and  Life  of  men,  the  Judge  of  the  World, 
the  King  of  the  Kingdom,  the  Founder  of  the 
Church,  the  Model  of  Disciples.  And  you  will  not 
fail  to  notice  that  the  parallel  is  particularly  close 
with  the  Fourth  Gospel.  Whatever  may  be  said— 
and  I  admit  that  much  may  be  said — as  to  the  form 
and  language  of  that  Gospel,  I  cannot  question,  with 
the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul  before  me,  that  the  substance 

*  2  Cor.  xiii.  5. 


92  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

is  genuinely  evangelic.  We  are  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  original  version  of  Christ's  life,  the  version 
that  within  eight  years  of  His  Death  was  set  before 
the  converted  Pharisee,  from  whose  extant  writings 
we  may  still  learn  it,  was  essentially  the  same  as  that 
which  for  so  many  centuries  has  been  the  Baptismal 
Confession  of  Christendom,  which  has  long  been 
known  in  the  Church  as  the  Apostles'  Creed.  If 
the  evidence  cannot  prove  the  truth  of  the  Creed, 
it  certainly  can  prove  its  original  character,  and  in  an 
historical  question  to  get  the  original  version  of  the 
facts  is  to  get  all  the  assurance  of  truth  you  are  able 
to  get  from  historical  inquiry. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  Christian  History  the 
inquirer  encounters  the  Problem  of  Jesus.  The 
paradox  which  amazes,  perhaps  also  offends  him, 
is  there  already,  before  tradition  has  been  swelled 
by  myth  and  fable.  He  must  find  some  other  ex 
planation  of  the  Divine  element  in  Christ's  history 
than  the  obvious  one  of  legendary  expansion. 
Legend  takes  time  to  grow  ;  myth  does  not  spring 
up  in  a  night ;  fable  echoes  faith,  but  cannot  create 
it.  The  war  of  the  critics  over  the  documents 
cannot  touch  the  facts  of  the  Life  of  Christ.  They 
are  certified,  so  far  as  they  can  be  certified,  by 
the  independent  authority  of  the  Pauline  Epistles. 
Profoundly  diverse  in  so  many  things,  in  this  the 
nineteenth  century  finds  itself  at  agreement  with 
the  first.  The  one  changeless  element  in  Christian 
History  is  the  Person  of  Tesus.  From  It  all  grace 
proceeds ;  to  It  all  problems  come  for  solution. 
It  reconciles  the  contradictions  of  experience,  and 


THE   HISTORIC   CHRIST  93 

creates  unity  of  faith  out  of  the  chaos  of  opinions. 
For  the  Person  of  Jesus  is  both  Divine  and  Human, 
since  in  Its  indissoluble  Oneness  meet  the  perfect 
Nature  of  God,  and  the  perfect  nature  of  man. 
Yes,  amid  the  shifting  sands  of  speculation,  here 
is  the  Rock.  The  Historic  Christ,  Who  loved  the 
society  of  little  children,  and  felt  no  shame  to  be 
the  Comrade  of  the  strayed  and  exiled  ones  of  the 
earth,  Whose  fierce  anger  rushed  forth  in  anathema 
upon  hypocrisy,  and  pride  of  place,  and  selfishness 
of  class,  Whose  stainless  purity  shamed  into  silence 
His  embittered  foes,  Who  wrestled  in  strong  prayer 
beneath  the  olives  of  Gethsemane  and  prayed  for 
His  murderers  in  the  Hour  of  His  Agony,  the  Cross 
of  Whose  Passion  is  clothed  with  Eternal  Glory — the 
Historic  Christ  remains  when  the  last  word  of 
criticism  has  been  spoken,  the  Alpha  and  Omega 
of  Christian  Faith,  the  only  sure  Foundation  of 
Human  Hope. 


CHAPTER   II. 
THE   RESURRECTION 

M  REN  AN  has  observed  that  the  Resurrection 
•  was  of  all  the  Christian  dogmas  the  most 
repugnant  to  the  Greek  mind.  We  owe  to  the  fact 
this  memorable  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  first  Corinthian 
Epistle,  perhaps  the  most  important  chapter  in  the 
Bible.  It  is  evident  that  there  were  persons  in 
Corinth  who  stumbled  at  this  doctrine.  "How  say 
some  among  you  that  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the 
dead?"  asks  S.  Paul.  The  objectors  do  not  seem 
to  have  questioned  Christ's  Resurrection  ;  to  do  that 
would  have  been  to  stultify  their  position  as 
Christians,  but  they  denied  the  general  Resurrection 
which  —  as  the  Apostle  urged  with  unanswerable 
force — was  really  involved  in  the  fact  of  'Christ's 
rising.  They  may  be  compared  with  those  heretics — 
Hymenaus  and  Philetus — whose  ''profane  babblings  " 
are  censured  in  the  second  Pastoral  Epistle,  and 
who  are  described  as  "men  who  concerning  the  truth 
have  erred,  saying  that  the  resurrection  is  past 
already"*  Among  the  Jews  the  Christian  doctrine 
created  no  difficulties.  The  belief  in  resurrection 
and  immortality  was  no  new  thing.  "  Within  the 
Old  Testament  period,  and  even  within  Old 
Testament  literature  the  gloom  of  Sheol  begins 
to  lighten,  while  between  the  Maccabean  age  and 

*  2  Tim.  ii.  17,  18. 
94 


THE   RESURRECTION  95 

the  birth  of  Christ  the  '  larger  hope '  had  become 
a  permanent  dogma  of  Judaism."*  The  doctrines 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  were  firmly  held  by  the  Pharisees,  and 
their  influence  was  generally  supreme  within  the 
sphere  of  Judaism.  Gibbon  does  not  overstate  the 
fact  when  he  says  that  "the  immortality  of  the 
soul  became  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the 
synagogue  under  the  reign  of  the  Asmonean 
princes  and  pontiffs."  The  narrative  of  the  Acts 
illustrates  the  different  attitude  of  Jews  and  Greeks 
towards  the  message  of  the  Resurrection.  S.  Paul 
could  count  on  the  sympathy  of  the  Pharisees  when 
he  urged  this  doctrine.  On  one  occasion  he  availed 
himself  of  that  sympathy  in  order  to  avert  a  judicial 
condemnation.  "  When  Paul  perceived  that  the  one 
part  (of  the  Sanhedrim)  ivere  Sadducees,  and  the  other 
Pharisees,  he  cried  out  in  the  council,  Brethren,  I  am  a 
Pharisee,  a  son  of  Pharisees ;  touching  the  hope  and 
resurrection  of  the  dead  I  am  called  in  question"  \  The 
result  of  this  appeal  abundantly  justified  the  Apostle's 
expectation.  The  assembly  was  divided,  and  the 
" scribes  of  the  Pharisees  part"  openly  espoused  his 
cause.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Greeks  received  the 
announcement  of  Christ's  Resurrection  with  con 
temptuous  incredulity.  Of  the  Athenians  we  read 
that  "  when  they  heard  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
some  mocked" \  The  prominence  given  to  the  Resur 
rection  in  the  preaching  of  S.  Paul  is  apparent  on 
the  face  of  the  history  of  the  Acts.  The  Athenian 
philosophers,  indeed,  supposed  that  the  "  Restir- 
*  MONTKFIORE,  H.  L.,  p.  455.  f  Acts  xxui.  6.  $  Ibid.  xvii.  32. 


96  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

rection  "  was  the  name  of  a  separate  Deity.  "  Certain 
of  the  Epicurean  and  Stoic  philosophers  encountered 
him.  And  some  said,  What  would  this  babbler  say? 
other  some,  He  seemcth  to  be  a  settcr-forth  of  strange 
gods :  because  (adds  the  historian)  he  preached  Jesus 
and  the  resurrection''*  Festus,  also,  was  impressed 
with  the  Resurrection  as  the  principal  subject  of  S. 
Paul's  teaching.  He  described  his  apostolic  prisoner 
to  King  Agrippa  as  one  who  was  not  accused  of  any 
evil  things,  but  whose  enemies  "  had  certain  questions 
against  him  of  their  own  religion,  and  of  one  Jesus,  who 
was  dead,  whom  Paul  affirmed  to  be  alive."} 

The  case  was  not  different  with  the  older  Apostles. 
They,  indeed,  were  the  original  eye-witnesses,  and 
their  incommunicable  function  was  to  declare  the 
fact  of  Christ's  Resurrection.  "  We  are  witnesses',' 
said  S.  Peter  to  Cornelius  and  his  friends,  "  of  all 
things  ivhich  He  did  both  in  the  country  of  the  Jews 
and  in  Jerusalem  ;  whom  also  they  slew,  hanging  Him 
on  a  tree.  Him  God  raised  up  the  third  day,  and  gave 
Him  to  be  made  manifest,  not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto 
witnesses  that  were  chosen  before  of  God,  even  to  us, 
who  did  eat  and  drink  with  Him  after  He  rose  from 
the  dead" I  It  is  important  to  notice  the  emphasis 
laid  on  the  testimony  of  the  Apostles.  The  record 
of  the  Gospels  represents  the  followers  of  Christ 
as  entirely  destitute  of  any  expectation  that  He 
would  rise  from  the  dead.  Some  of  them  were 
actually  bearing  in  their  hands  the  spices  with  which 
they  designed  to  bury  His  Body,  when  they  were 
encountered  by  tidings  of  the  empty  sepulchre  and 

*  Acts  xvii.  18.         f  Ibid.  xxv.  18,  19.         $  Ibid.  x.  39-41. 


THE   RESURRECTION  97 

the  vision  of  angels.  The  obstinate  incredulity  of 
S.  Thomas  refused  belief  to  all  testimony  save  that 
of  his  own  senses.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  Apostles 
were  not  more  sceptical  than  the  other  disciples,  nor 
disciples  than  the  unbelieving  Jews.  From  the  first 
the  belief  in  Christ's  Resurrection  was  advanced  on 
evidence  which  was  considered  to  be  irresistible,  and 
was,  in  fact,  generally  accepted  as  such.  S.  Paul 
sets  down  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  a  list 
of  testimonies  which  had  been  delivered  to  him  soon 
after  his  conversion,  and  which  he  strengthens  by  the 
addition  of  his  own  personal  testimony.  He  is  care 
ful  to  disclaim  any  originality  for  this  summary  of  the 
Gospel.  "  /  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which 
also  I  received."  The  expressions  are  identical  with 
those  adopted  by  the  Apostle  when  treating  of  the 
Eucharist.  "  /  received  (Trape\a/3oi>)  of  the  Lord  that 
which  also  I  delivered  (-TrapeSiaKa)  unto  you''  (xi.  23.) 
The  kindred  substantive  to  the  verb  here  rendered 
to  " deliver  to"  anyone  is  used  by  S.  Paul  in  the 
second  Thessalonian  Epistle,  where  it  is  represented 
in  English  by  the  famous  word  "  tradition,"  i.e.,  some 
thing  delivered  to  somebody.  "  So  then,  brethren, 
stand  fast,  and  hold  the  traditions  (7rapaS6a-ei$)  which 
ye  were  taught,  whether  by  word  or  by  epistle  of  ours''* 
Now  S.  Paul  expressly  says  in  the  Galatian  Epistle 
that  he  did  not  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  older 
Apostles  until  some  time  had  elapsed  after  his  con 
version.  "  After  three  years  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to 
visit  Cephas,  and  tarried  with  him  fifteen  days.  But 
other  of  the  Apostles  saw  I  none,  save  James,  the  Lord's 

*  2  Thess.  ii.  1$. 

H 


98  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

brother!'  (i.  19.)  It  is  significant  that  in  the  list  of 
testimonies  the  only  names  mentioned  are  those  of 
Cephas  and  James.  This  coincidence  corresponds 
with  the  probabilities  of  the  case  in  assigning  the 
origin  of  this  "  tradition "  which  S.  Paul  delivered 
to  the  Corinthians  to  his  visit  to  Jerusalem  three 
years  after  his  conversion.  This  visit  may  be 
reasonably  ascribed  to  the  year  38  of  our  era,  that 
is,  precisely  eight  years  after  the  Crucifixion  of  our 
Lord.  In  Jerusalem,  then,  the  scene  of  the  alleged 
fact,  where,  if  the  statement  were  false,  overwhelming 
evidence  must  have  been  at  hand  to  demonstrate 
its  falseness  by  the  very  men  who  had  companied 
with  Christ  during  His  life,  and  had  been  panic- 
stricken  by  His  Death — within  eight  years  of  the 
supposed  occurrence,  S.  Paul  received  the  following 
statement : — "  That  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according 
to  the  Scriptures ;  and  that  He  was  buried ;  and  that 
He  hath  been  raised  on  the  third  day  according  to  the 
Scriptures ;  and  that  He  appeared  to  Cephas ;  then  to 
tht  twelve ;  then  He  appeared  to  above  500  brethren 
at  once ;  then  He  appeared  to  James ;  tJien  to  all  the 
Apostles"  S.  Paul,  in  rehearsing  this  " tradition," 
inserts  a  comment  and  makes  an  addition.  Of  the 
500  brethren,  he  says,  "  the  greater  part  remain  until 
now,  but  some  are  fallen  asleep"  Is  it  extravagant 
to  infer  from  these  words  that  S.  Paul  had  known 
many  of  these  brethren,  and  learned  from  their  own 
lips  the  glorious  Fact  of  which  they  had  been  specta 
tors  ?  He  adds  to  the  list  his  own  testimony.  "And 
last  of  all)  as  unto  one  born  out  of  due  time.  He  appeared 
to  me  aiso"  That  vision  of  the  Risen  Lord  wa3 


THE    RESURRECTION  99 

supremely  important  to  S.  Paul.  Not  only  had  it 
been  the  cause  of  his  conversion,  but  it  was  the  basis 
of  his  Apostolic  authority.  He  could  meet  the 
insulting  questions  of  his  judaistic  opponents  with 
confidence.  "Am  I  not  free  ?  am  I  not  an  Apostle? 
have  I  not  seen  Jesus  our  Lord?"  It  does  not  fall 
within  the  purpose  of  this  inquiry  to  examine  the 
evidences  of  the  Resurrection ;  it  is  sufficient  to 
show  that  in  the  Apostolic  Church  the  fact  of  the 
Resurrection  was  presented  to  men  as  claiming  their 
belief  reasonably.  It  was  matter  of  legitimate 
questioning ;  it  challenged  inquiry ;  it  required 
proof;  it  possessed — so  the  Apostles  maintained 
and  so  the  Church  believed — overwhelming  proof. 
It  may  be  permitted  to  remark  that— apart  from 
the  refusal  to  allow  any  evidence  as  adequate  to 
prove  the  Resurrection — the  evidences  which  satisfied 
S.  Paul  remain  to-day  unshaken  by  centuries  of 
questioning  and  criticism. 

But  what  were  the  Corinthians  taught  about  Christ's 
Resurrection  ?  What  was  the  understanding  of  the 
Fact  which  obtained  in  the  Apostolic  Church  ?  The 
fifteenth  chapter,  which  opens  with  the  traditional 
testimonies  to  the  fact,  proceeds  to  expound  the 
doctrine  of  the  Resurrection.  "But  now  hath  Christ 
been  raised  from  the  dead,  the  first-fruits  of  them  that 
are  asleep.  For  since  by  man  came  death,  by  man  came 
also  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  For  as  in  A  dam  all 
die,  so  also  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive.  But  each 
in  his  own  order ;  Christ  the  first-fruits ;  then  they 
that  are  Christ's  at  His  coming''  Our  Lord  is  the 
true  representative  of  the  race  in  its  spiritual,  as 


ioo          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Adam  in  its  natural  capacity.  In  His  case  the  law 
is  first  operative,  which  shall  in  due  course  be 
operative  in  all  His  brethren.  The  Resurrection 
is  not  so  much  miraculous  as  natural ;  the  working 
of  the  law,  which  is  ultimately  to  work  universally. 
S.  Paul  proceeds  to  argue  the  moral  necessity  of  the 
Resurrection.  The  practice  of  baptizing  for  the  dead 
assumed  the  life  beyond  the  grave,  in  which  the 
sacrament,  thus  vicariously  received,  could  prove  its 
efficacious  virtue.  "Else  what  shall  they  do  which  are 
baptized  for  the  dead?  If  the  dead  are  not  raised  at 
all,  why  are  they  then  baptized  for  the  dead?"  Con 
siderable  doubt  has  been  expressed  as  to  the  meaning 
of  this  "  baptism  for  the  dead."  The  difficulty  hardly 
so  much  arises  from  any  obscurity  in  S.  Paul's 
language  as  from  an  unwillingness  on  the  part  of 
students  to  admit  the  existence  in  Apostolic  times, 
and,  apparently,  under  Apostolic  auspices,  of  a 
practice  which  seems  plainly  superstitious.  We  do 
not  share  that  unwillingness,  and,  therefore,  do  not 
perceive  the  difficulty.  M.  Renan,  perhaps,  goes 
too  far  in  his  explanation  of  the  Corinthian  usage. 
"The  faithful,"  he  says,  "  called  to  mind  their  excellent 
ancestors,  who  had  died  without  having  known  the 
truth  which  saves.  A  touching  practice — baptism  for 
the  dead — was  the  consequence  of  this  feeling.  They 
believed  that  in  being  baptized  for  those  of  their 
ancestors,  who  had  not  received  the  sacred  water, 
they  conferred  on  them  the  merits  of  the  sacrament ; 
thus  they  allowed  themselves  to  hope  that  they  would 
not  be  parted  from  those  whom  they  had  loved." 
We  cannot  think  that  the  practice  had  so  wide  an 


THE   RESURRECTION  101 

application.  Rather  we  should  suppose  that  it  was 
limited  to  the  case  of  those  who  being  desirous  of 
baptism  were  cut  off  by  death  before  they  could 
receive  the  Sacrament.  This  view  is  confirmed  by 
the  testimony  of  S.  Chrysostom,  who  relates,  not 
without  expressions  of  contempt,  the  custom  of 
certain  Christians.  "After  a  catechumen  was  dead 
they  hid  a  living  man  under  the  bed  of  the  deceased, 
then  coming  to  the  dead  man  they  spoke  to  him 
and  asked  him  whether  he  would  receive  baptism, 
and  he  making  no  answer  the  other  replied  in 
his  stead,  and  so  they  baptized  the  living  for  the 
dead."  The  reason  of  their  action  is  stated  by 
Epiphanius.  They  feared  "  lest  in  the  resurrection 
the  dead  should  be  punished  for  want  of  baptism." 
While  we  may  agree  with  Dean  Stanley  in  regarding 
this  "  baptism  for  the  dead "  as  a  "  curious  relic  of 
primitive  superstition,"  we  shall  maintain  that  the 
idea  underlying  the  practice  was  a  true  one.  S.  Paul 
only  appeals  to  the  custom  as  an  indication  of  the 
necessary  assumption  of  the  Resurrection  which  the 
Corinthians  were  making.  He  goes  on  to  urge  the 
kindred  witness  of  all  hardship  borne  for  the  sake 
of  righteousness,  nay,  of  all  effort  after  righteous 
ness.  "  Why  do  we  also  stand  in  jeopardy  every  hour  ? 
I  protest  by  that  glorying  inyoti,  brethren,  which  I  have 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  I  die  daily.  If,  after  the 
manner  of  men,  I  fought  with  beasts  at  Ephesus,  what 
doth  it  profit  me  ?  If  the  dead  are  not  raised,  let  us 
eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die."  Loyalty  to 
righteousness  is  an  act  of  faith  in  that  life  beyond 
the  grave,  in  which  righteousness  shall  be  seen  to  be 


102         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

victorious.  Here  in  this  strange  world,  where  the 
wicked  flourish  as  the  bay  tree  and  the  heroes  of 
self-sacrifice  sink  unregarded  into  their  graves,  the 
servant  of  Righteousness  must "  endure  as  seeing  Him, 
Who  is  invisible" 

But  a  host  of  objections  were  urged,  are  still  urged, 
in  the  name  of  reason,  of  physical  science.  "But 
someone  will  say,  How  are  the  dead  raised?  And 
with  what  manner  of  body  do  they  come  ? "  There  are 
many  in  these  days  who  object  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Resurrection  its  incompatibility  with  what  are  con 
veniently  called  the  "  laws  of  nature."  S.  Paul,  as 
Christ  had  done  before  him,*  points  to  the  significant 
analogy  of  nature.  "  Thou  foolish  one,  that  wJiich  thou 
thyself  sowest  is  not  quickened,  except  it  die  ;  and  that 
which  thou  soivest,  thou  sowest  not  the  body  that  shall 
be,  but  a  bare  grain,  it  may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some 
other  kind  ;  but  God  give th  it  a  body  even  as  it  pleased 
Him,  and  to  each  seed  a  body  of  its  own.  .  .  .  So  also 
is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  It  is  sown  in  corrup 
tion  ;  it  is  raised  in  incorruption ;  it  is  sown  in 
dishonour  ;  it  is  raised  in  glory  ;  it  is  sown  in  weak 
ness  ;  it  is  raised  in  power  ;  it  is  sown  a  natural  body ; 
it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body" 

*  Cf.  ARCHBISHOP  TEMPLE'S  Bampton  Lectures,  pp.  196-7  (London, 
1884).  "It  is  quite  possible  that  our  Lord's  Resurrection  may  be 
found  hereafter  to  be  no  miracle  at  all  in  the  scientific  sense.  It  fore 
shadows  and  begins  the  general  Resurrection ;  when  that  general 
Resurrection  comes  we  may  find  that  it  is,  after  all,  the  natural  issue 
of  physical  laws  always  at  work.  .  .  .  We  may  find  that  even  in  the 
language  of  strict  science  "  He  was  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept," 
and  that  His  Resurrection  was  not  a  miracle,  but  the  first  instance  of 
the  working  of  a  law  till  the  last  day  quite  unknown,  but  on  that  last 
day  operative  on  all  that  ever  lived." 


THE   RESURRECTION  103 

The  idea  of  "  a  spiritual  body  "  takes  the  doctrine 
of  the  Resurrection  out  of  the  category  of  the 
physical,  and  relieves  it  from  all  objections  which 
proceed  on  the  materialist  supposition.  The  best 
comment  on  the  phrase  is  provided  by  the  Evangelic 
accounts  of  Christ's  Resurrection.  Evidently  the 
Body  of  the  Risen  Saviour  was  an  enfranchized, 
glorious  Body ;  no  longer  was  It  subject  to  the 
limiting  conditions  of  terrestrial  existence.  It  over 
passed  all  physical  impediments,  coming  and  going 
in  perfect  obedience  to  the  Will  of  Christ,  recogniz 
able  as  Christ's  and  yet  different,  so  that  only  by  an 
effort  of  awakened  attention  could  the  likeness  be 
perceived.  Read  the  last  chapter  of  S.  Luke's 
Gospel  in  connection  with  this  fifteenth  chapter  of 
the  Corinthian  Epistle :  remember  that  S.  Luke 
probably  drew  from  his  great  master,  S.  Paul,  much 
of  his  knowledge  of  the  Evangelic  History,  that  the 
account  of  Christ's  Risen  Body  may  be  regarded  as 
correspondent  with  S.  Paul's  conception  of  the  facts, 
and,  therefore,  as  providing  the  basis  of  his  doctrine 
of  the  spiritual  body.  You  recall  the  experience  of 
the  two  disciples  with  whom  our  Lord  conversed  on 
the  way  to  Emmaus.  "//  came  to  pass,  when  He  had 
sat  down  with  them  to  meat,  He  took  the  bread  and 
blessed  it,  and  brake,  and  gave  to  them.  A  nd  their  eyes 
were  opened,  and  they  knew  Him,  and  He  vanished  out 
of  their  sight"*  Our  Lord  Himself  was  the  Author 
of  the  Pauline  doctrine,  when — as  S.  Matthew  relates 
—  He  rebuked  the  coarse  carnal  notions  of  the 
Sadducees.  "Jesus  ansivered  and  said  unto  them,  Ye 

*  S.  Luke  xxiv.  30. 


104         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of 
God.  For  in  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry,  nor 
are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  angels  in  heaven''* 
Such  is  the  argument  of  the  Apostle.  "  Now  this 
I  say,  brethren,  that  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God ;  neither  doth  corruption  inherit 
incorruption''  In  the  silence  of  death  the  subtle 
alchemy  of  God  shall  work  the  great  transformation ; 
the  carnal,  perishable  element  shall  be  purged  away, 
and  the  emancipated  spiritual  element  alone  survive. 
So  death  shall  not  be  the  final  disappointment  of 
Christian  Hope,  as  the  Corinthians,  misled  by  their 
expectation  of  an  immediate  Advent  of  Christ,  had 
been  disposed  to  think,  but  a  stage  of  preparation  for 
the  ultimate  state  of  blessedness.  '''Behold,  I  tell  you 
a  mystery''  cries  the  Apostle,  kindling  with  his  sub 
lime  theme :  "  We  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall 
all  be  changed,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye,  at  the  last  trump ;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound, 
and  the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall 
be  changed''  Yes  ;  the  great  transformation  out  of 
the  material  into  the  spiritual  is  the  essential  thing ; 
whether  by  death  or  by  some  unknown  process  apart 
from  death.  "  We  shall  be  changed.  For  this  cor 
ruptible  must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal 
must  put  on  immortality.  But  when  this  corruptible 
shall  have  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  shall 
have  put  on  immortality,  then  shall  come  to  pass  the 
saying  that  is  written,  Death  is  swallowed  up  in 
victory.  0  death,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  0  death, 
ivhere  is  thy  sting  ?  The  sting  of  death  is  sin ; 

*  S.  Matt.  xxii.  29,  30. 


THE   RESURRECTION  105 

and  the  power  of  sin  is  the  law  ;  but  thanks  be  to  God, 
which  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ"  S.  Paul  catches  up  into  his  impassioned 
speech  the  famous  utterances  of  the  prophets. 
Isaiah*  had  described  the  bliss  of  that  great 
deliverance  when  the  Lord  God  should  have 
"swallowed  up  death  for  ever" ;  and  Hoseaf  at  a 
still  remoter  period  had  spoken  even  more  wonder 
fully.  "/  will  ransom  them  from  the  power  of  the 
grave ;  I  will  redeem  them  from  death ;  O  death, 
where  are  thy  plagues  ?  O  grave,  where  is  thy 
destruction  ?"  The  prophets  were  stirred  by  the 
thought  of  great  national  deliverances ;  the  Apostle 
borrows  their  language  to  express  a  nobler  victory. 

The  faith  in  the  Resurrection,  firmly  built  on  the 
conviction  that  Christ  had  actually  risen  from  the 
dead,  was  the  source  of  that  high  courage  which 
marked  the  primitive  Christians,  and  was  so  splen 
didly  conspicuous  in  the  life  of  S.  Paul.  A  new 
grandeur  attached  to  life  in  the  world  when  it  was 
set  free  from  servitude  to  physical  conditions.  "  We 
know  that  if  the  earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle  be 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  from  God,  a  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens"  \  The 
humblest  duties  acquired  a  certain  sanctity  in 
view  of  the  assurance  of  immortality.  Among  the 
Gentile  converts  there  was,  at  first,  a  tendency  to 
turn  aside  from  the  common  tasks  of  life  in  order 
to  reflect  without  distraction  on  the  approaching 
glories  of  the  Day  of  Christ.  This  tendency  was, 
indeed,  contrary  to  the  mind  of  the  Apostle,  by 

*  Isaiah  xxv.  8.  t  Hosea  xiii.  14.  £  2  Cor.  v.  I, 


io6         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

whom — in  the  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians — it  was 
severely  rebuked.  Few  things  are  more  impressive 
than  the  calm,  practical  counsel  with  which  S.  Paul 
concludes  the  famous  chapter  we  have  been  con 
sidering.  He  passes  from  his  ecstasy  of  praise  to 
the  plain  duties  of  the  hour.  "  Wherefore,  my  beloved 
brethren,  be  ye  stedfast,  unmoveable,  always  abound 
ing  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  ye  know 
that  your  labour  is  not  vain  in  the  Lord"  Have 
not  those  strong,  simple  words  sounded  to  many, 
standing  beside  the  open  grave  into  which  has  just 
been  lowered  the  mortal  remains  of  their  best 
beloved,  as  a  true  message  of  God,  restraining  the 
bitterness  of  grief,  hallowing  the  stroke  of  calamity, 
proclaiming  the  everlasting  greatness  of  duty  in  the 
very  face  of  Death?  Otherwise  considered,  human 
labour — all  the  vain  strivings  of  men,  their  splendid 
ambition,  their  sublime  aspirations,  are  perishing 
and  worthless ;  but  from  the  empty  tomb  in  the 
counsellor's  garden  streams  on  all  honest  wprk  a 
new  and  nobler  light.  Henceforth  all  honest  work 
is  transacted  "  in  the  Lord!'  and  believers  know 
(even  as  the  tears  fall  for  dear  ones  gone)  "  that 
their  labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord" 


CHAPTER    III. 
THE   CORINTHIAN    HERETICS 

r  I  ""HE  Revisers  have  made  use  of  two  words  to 
A  render  into  English  the  Greek  cupeans.  It  is  a 
"heresy"  or  a  "faction."  Thus  in  I  Cor.  xi.  19  the 
first  is  placed  in  the  text,  the  last  in  the  margin 
as  an  alternative  rendering.  "  For  there  must  be 
also  heresies  [margin,  factions]  among  you,  that  they 
which  are  approved  may  be  made  manifest  among 
you." 

Perhaps  "  faction "  does  best  render  the  sense 
of  the  Greek  word,  although  in  this  passage  the 
distinction  is  so  clearly  drawn  between  "  divisions  "  or 
"  schisms "  and  " heresies "  or  "factions"  as  to  compel 
us  to  understand  something  more  than  the  mere 
breach  of  unity.  S.  Paul  seems  to  argue  back  from 
the  external  divisions  to  graver  differences  which  they 
expressed.  "  For,  first  of  all,  when  ye  come  together 
in  the  church,  I  hear  that  divisions  exist  among  you; 
and  I  partly  believe  it.  For  there  must  also  be  heresies 
among  you''  It  will  be  worth  while  to  notice  the 
New  Testament  usage  of  this  word  which  here  is 
rendered  "heresy"  or  "faction"  Literally  the  word 
simply  means  "choosing";  then  it  is  applied  to  the 
thing  chosen,  and  so  is  used  to  describe  opinions 
which  men  adopt  with  no  better  authority  than  their 

107 


1 08         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

own  preference.  Thus  in  the  so-called  second 
Epistle  of  S.  Peter  we  read  of  "false  teachers,  who 
shall  privily  bring  in  destructive  heresies"  or  (as  the 
margin  reads)  "  sects  of  perdition,"  by  which  we 
understand  private  opinions  of  their  own  tending 
towards  perdition.  This  is  nearly  the  later  ecclesi 
astical  sense  of  heresy ;  more  commonly  in  the 
New  Testament  the  word  is  used  to  signify  any  body 
of  men  holding  a  particular  opinion.  Thus  we  read 
in  the  Acts  of  "  the  cu/oecr*?,  or  sect  of  the  Sadducees?  * 
and  of  "  the  cupecri?,  or  sect  of  the  Pharisees"  t  S. 
Paul,  in  his  defence  before  King  Agrippa,  said  that 
"  after  the  straitest  sect  (cupecri?)  of  the  Jews'  religion 
he  hady  before  his  conversion,  lived  a  Pharisee"  \ 
Tertullus,  the  orator,  when  opening  his  case  against 
S.  Paul  before  the  governor  Felix,  described  him 
"  a  ringleader  of  the  sect  (cupecri?)  of  the  Nazarenes"  § 
and  the  Apostle,  when  answering  for  himself,  took 
up  the  expression.  "  But  this  I  confess  unto  thee,  that 
after  the  Way  which  they  call  a  sect  (cupeo-is)  so  serve  I 
the  God  of  our  fathers"^  Finally,  the  Roman  Jews 
when,  in  response  to  S.  Paul's  invitation,  they  visited 
him  in  prison,  applied  the  word  to  the  Christian 
community,  "as  concerning  this  sect  (cupevis),  it  is 
known  to  us  that  everywhere  it  is  spoken  against?  *& 
It  is,  I  think,  evident  that  the  notion  of  doctrinal 
peculiarity  is  always  present  in  this  usage.  The 
external  separation  which  marked  off  Sadducees, 
Pharisees,  or  Christians,  had  its  root  in  a  divergence 
of  belief.  In  short,  heresy  stands  for  private  opinion 

*  Acts  v.  17.  f  Ibid.  xv.  5.  %  Ibid,  xxvi.  5. 

$  Ibid.  xxiv.  5.  ||  Ibid.  xxiv.  14.  H   Ibidt  xxviii.  22. 


THE   CORINTHIAN    HERETICS        109 

in  the  sphere  of  religious  doctrine.  M.  Godet's 
comment  on  I  Cor.  xi.  19  seems  to  bring  out  clearly 
the  drift  of  the  Apostle's  thought  :— 

"  To  the  simple  divisions  which  arise  from  personal 
preferences  or  antipathies  Paul  foresees  that  there 
will  succeed  deep  severances  of  another  kind,  based 
on  various  conceptions  of  Christian  truth.  He 
believes  what  he  has  been  told  about  the  first, 
because  he  expects  the  last.  There  will  arise  among 
them  false  doctrines,  heresies,  in  the  sense  which  the 
Greek  word  has  taken  in  later  ecclesiastical  language, 
and  there  will  result  from  thence  divergences  far  more 
serious  than  actual  divisions.  Divisions  (o-x^/xara) 
are  like  mere  rents  in  a  piece  of  cloth  ;  but  heresies 
(cupeveis)  are  rents  which  tear  off  a  fragment  and 
destroy  the  unity  of  the  piece."  In  the  Epistle  to 
the  Galatians  S.  Paul  includes  "heresies"  in  the  long 
list  of  "  the  works  of  the  flesh"  and,  perhaps,  we  may 
infer  from  its  place  in  the  catalogue,  the  special 
gravity  which  attached  to  it  in  the  Apostle's  mind — 
"  enmities,  strife,  jealousies,  wraths,  factions,  divisions, 
heresies" 

That  "  heresy "  in  the  doctrinal  sense  was  present 
in  the  Corinthian  Church  is  evident  from  the 
Epistles.  S.  Paul  exhorts  to  agreement  in  the  open 
ing  chapter  of  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
in  terms  which  point  to  disunion  in  matters  of  faith, 
as  well  as  in  sentiment  and  conduct  "  Now  I  beseech 
you,  brethren,  through  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  ye  all  speak  the  same  thing,  and  that 
there  be  no  divisions  (crx/oTiara)  among  you :  but  that 
ye  be  perfected  together  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the 


no         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

same  judgment."  Later  in  the  Epistle  S.  Paul  sets 
himself  to  oppose  one  particular  heresy,  which  had 
reference  to  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Resur 
rection.  "Now  if  Christ  is  preached  that  He  hath 
been  raised  from  the  dead,  how  say  some  among-  you 
that  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead  ?  "  *  What 
the  precise  teaching  of  the  Corinthian  heretics  was 
it  is  not  quite  easy  to  gather.  That  they  admitted 
the  fact  of  Christ's  Resurrection  is  the  impression 
most  naturally  conveyed  by  the  Apostle's  language. 
He  appears  to  make  that  universally  accepted  fact 
the  basis  of  his  argument.  However,  the  evident 
anxiety  with  which  S.  Paul  presses  the  reality  of 
Christ's  Resurrection,  and  the  care  with  which  he 
enumerates  the  historic  evidences  for  the  fact,  may 
show  that  unbelief  had  extended  itself  even  to  this 
central  doctrine.  In  the  second  Pastoral  Epistle  there 
is  reference  made  to  the  heretics,  "  Hymenceus  and 
Philetus,  men  who  concerning  the  truth  have  erred, 
saying  that  the  resurrection  is  past  already,  and 
overthrow  the  faith  of  some!'  The  essence  of  this 
heresy  was  probably  that  false  view  of  the  body 
as  the  enemy  of  the  soul,  which  marked  the  early 
Ascetics.  The  Resurrection  of  the  body  was  a 
prospect  entirely  irreconcilable  with  their  philosophy. 
The  destruction  of  the  body  from  their  point  of  view 
was  the  enfranchisement  of  the  soul,  and  death,  as 
involving  such  destruction,  not  so  much  to  be 
abhorred  as  desired.  "  Death  and  resurrection  were 
terms  which  had  with  these  false  teachers  only  a 
spiritual  meaning  and  application  ;  *  they  allegorized 
*  i  Cor,  xv,  13, 


THE   CORINTHIAN    HERETICS        in 

away  the  doctrine,  and  turned  all  into  figure  and 
metaphor.'"*  They  understood  by  "resurrection" 
only  that  spiritual  quickening  which  belonged  to 
discipleship ;  in  this  sense  they  taught  that  "  the 
resurrection  was  past  already'' 

In  the  second  Epistle  S.  Paul  speaks  with  almost 
passionate  earnestness  about  the  false  teachers,  who 
were  assaulting  the  faith  of  the  Corinthians.  "But 
I  fear,  lest  by  any  means,  as  the  serpent  beguiled  Eve 
in  his  craftiness,  your  minds  should  be  corrupted  from 
the  simplicity  and  the  purity  that  is  toward  Christ. 
For  if  he  that  cometh  preacheth  another  Jesus,  whom 
we  did  not  preach,  or  if  ye  receive  a  different  spirit, 
which  ye  did  not  receive,  or  a  different  gospel,  which 
ye  did  not  accept, ye  do  well  to  bear  with  him"\  The 
Apostle  speaks  ironically.  The  ready  welcome  ex 
tended  by  the  Corinthians  to  these  heretics  moved 
his  scorn,  even  while  it  alarmed  his  affection.  It 
was  a  painful  revelation  of  religious  levity  in  his 
converts  that  they  should  find  so  little  difficulty  in 
abandoning  the  truth  which  they  had  received  from 
the  Apostle,  and  that,  moreover,  at  the  instigation  of 
persons  who  had  no  title  whatever  to  their  audience. 

That  in  the  very  lifetime  of  the  Apostles  heretics 
should  have  made  their  appearance  may  well  astonish 
those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  think  of  the 
Apostolic  age  as  a  golden  time,  when  faith  was 
inviolate  and  unity  unbroken.  The  manner  in  which 
heresy  was  rebuked  in  the  first  age  is  eminently 
worthy  our  notice.  S.  Paul  applies  a  two-fold  test 

*  BISHOP  ELLICOTT,  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titiis,  p.  134. 
t  2  Cor.  xi.  3, 


ii2          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

to  the  doctrines  which  came  before  him  for  judgment. 
The  one,  we  may  call,  the  historical  test ;  the  other, 
the  moral  test.  He  appealed  to  the  facts  of  the 
Evangelic  Tradition,  which  formed  the  basis  of 
Christianity.  Opinions  which  could  not  be  recon 
ciled  with  those  facts  must  necessarily  be  rejected 
as  incompatible  with  discipleship.  You  will  observe 
that  the  Apostle  regards  himself  as  the  faithful 
steward,  charged  loyally  to  transmit  the  treasure 
of  Divine  truth.  He  does  not  claim  an  original 
authority ;  it  is  his  function  to  carry  to  others  the 
message  he  has  himself  received.  "  /  received  of  the 
Lord  that  which  also  I  delivered  unto  you "  is  the 
formula  with  which  he  introduces  his  account  of 
the  Institution  of  the  Eucharist.  "/  delivered  unto 
you,  first  of  all,  that  which  also  I  received"  is  the 
phrase  with  which  he  prefaces  what  may  almost 
be  called  a  solemn  creed  or  profession  of  belief. 
S.  Paul  disclaims  that  speculative  "  wisdom "  which 
the  Corinthians  admired.  Christ  had  sent  him  not 
to  play  the  philosopher,  but  the  Apostle,  and  it 
was  not  for  him  to  mitigate  the  harshness  or  explain 
away  the  difficulties  of  the  Divine  Gospel.  "  Christ 
sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach  the  Gospel ;  not 
in  wisdom  of  words,  lest  the  cross  of  Christ  should 
be  made  void''*  Experience  made  clear  at  once  the 
disadvantages  and  the  power  of  that  unyielding 
Message.  Jews  and  Greeks  alike  were  disappointed 
and  repelled,  yet  from  both  it  drew  to  itself  those 
who  found  it  "  life  from  the  dead!'  "  Seeing  that 
Jews  ask  for  signs,  and  Greeks  seek  after  wisdom  : 

*  I  Cor,  i.  17. 


THE    CORINTHIAN    HERETICS        113 

but  we  preach  Christ  crucified,  unto  Jews  a  stumbling- 
block,  and  unto  Gentiles  foolishness ;  but  tinto  them 
that  are  called,  both  Jews  and  Greeks,  Christ  the 
power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God" *  Eloquence 
and  philosophy  were  almost  impertinent  when  a 
Divine  Message  was  in  question.  The  Gospel  could 
not  need  such  auxiliaries.  They  might  easily  ob 
struct  its  grace.  So,  for  himself,  S.  Paul  renounced 
them,  and  set  before  his  mind  as  an  ideal  the 
absolute  honesty  which  should  distinguish  a  loyal 
ambassador.  "  /  determined  not  to  know  anything 
among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified. 
And  I  ivas  with  you  in  weakness,  and  in  fear,  and 
in  much  trembling.  And  my  speech  and  my  preaching 
were  not  in  persuasive  words  of  wisdom,  but  in 
demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power :  that  your 
faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in 
the  power  of  God""\  Sincerity,  straight-dealing  are 
the  qualities  which  he  emphasizes  as  properly 
characteristic  of  a  Christian  Minister's  work.  "  We 
have  renounced  the  hidden  things  of  shame,  not 
walking  in  craftiness,  nor  handling  the  Word  of  God 
deceitfully,  but  by  the  manifestation  of  the  truth 
commending  ourselves  to  every  man's  conscience  in 
the  sight  of  God?  \ 

Necessarily,  as  time  passed,  fidelity  in  the  Christian 
took  the  shape  of  orthodoxy.  For  the  guidance  and 
help  of  the  new  converts  the  foundation  facts  of  the 
Evangelic  Tradition  were  expressed  in  a  formula 
of  belief,  a  creed  in  fact.  We  have  already  had 

*  i  Cor.  i.  22-23.  t  Ibid.  ii.  2-4.         J  2  Cor.  iv.  2. 

I 


H4         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

occasion  to  notice  that  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles, 
written  at  the  close  of  S.  Paul's  career,  there  are 
frequent  references  to  "  the  faith"  by  which  evidently 
is  understood  a  concrete  body  of  doctrine.  Heretics 
are  described  as  those  that  "fall  away  from  the 
faith  ";*  it  is  the  mark  of  the  "good  minister  of  Jesus 
Christ "  that  he  is  "  nourished  in  the  words  of  the 
faith" t  The  very  mark  of  the  presumptuous 
wrangler  is  departure  from  the  Christian  tradition. 
"  If  any  man  teacheth  a  different  doctrine,  and  con- 
senteth  not  to  sound  words,  even  the  words  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  doctrine  which  is 
according  to  godliness,  he  is  puffed  up,  knowing 
nothing,  etc."  {  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Christian 
Minister  to  "fight  the  good  fight  of  the  faith"  \  In 
the  second  Pastoral  Epistle  we  find  mention  of  a 
"pattern  of  sound  words"  which  S.  Timothy  is 
exhorted  to  hold  fast.  ||  It  would  be  true  to  say 
that  S.  Paul  tested  religious  opinions  by  the  funda 
mental  beliefs  of  Christians,  the  articles  of  the  Creed. 
His  second  test  was  moral.  Did  the  new  opinions 
make  for  righteousness,  or  was  their  tendency  in 
the  opposite  direction  ?  It  goes  a  long  way  to 
justify  the  extreme  indignation  which  S.  Paul 
manifests  against  the  heretical  teachers,  that  for  the 
most  part  their  heresies  had  a  very  evil  effect  on 
conduct.  Thus  that  false  asceticism  which  despised 
the  body  and  denied  the  Resurrection  easily  passed 
into  a  profligacy,  which  better  matched  the  habits 
of  paganism  than  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel.  The 
ardent  champions  of  "  Christian  liberty "  were  but 

*   i  Tim.  iv.  i.          t  Ibid.  v.  6.         $  Ibid.  vi.  3.          §  Ibid.  v.  12. 
||  2  Tim.  i.  13. 


THE   CORINTHIAN   HERETICS        115 

too  often  found  to  be  as  contemptuous  of  moral 
restraints  as  of  ritual  distinctions.  The  zealots  for 
Mosaic  ceremonial  were  commonly  found  to  be 
strangely  indifferent  to  evangelic  righteousness. 
S.  Paul  —  it  is  manifest  from  every  line  of  the 
Epistles — was  a  zealot  for  righteousness.  Disciple- 
ship  in  his  mind  was  synonymous  with  the  conflict 
against  sin.  He  ever  speaks  of  baptism,  the  decisive 
act  which  introduced  men  into  the  Church  and 
declared  them  disciples  of  Christ,  as  involving  a 
crisis  of  moral  change,  which  the  subsequent  Christian 
life  attested  and  revealed.  "  Are  ye  ignorant  that  all 
we  who  were  baptized  into  Christ  Jesus  were  baptized 
into  His  death  ?  We  were  buried  therefore  with  Him 
through  baptism  into  death :  that  like  as  Christ  was 
raised  from  the  dead  through  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
so  we  also  might  walk  in  newness  of  life!1*  The 
association  of  right  faith  and  righteous  conduct  was 
as  natural  in  S.  Paul's  mind  as  that  of  heresy  and 
vicious  living,  and  commonly  experience  justified 
it.  This  must  be  remembered  when  we  read  the 
stern  counsel  given  to  S.  Titus :  "  A  man  that  is 
heretical  after  a  first  and  second  admonition  refuse ; 
knowing  that  such  a  one  is  perverted,  and  sinneth, 
being  self- condemned"  \  For,  if  we  direct  our  gaze 
upon  Christian  history,  we  cannot  avoid  the  im 
pression  that,  while  the  Apostle's  severity  has  been 
vastly  increased  towards  "heretics"  the  Apostle's 
tests  of  heresy  have  been  almost  wholly  neglected. 
Again  and  again  the  Church  of  Christ  has  oppressed 
and  even  caused  to  be  slain  as  heretics  men  who 
had  been  driven  into  revolt  by  her  own  portentous 

*  Romans  vi.  3.        f  Titus  iii.  10. 


ii6         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

departures  both  from  primitive  faith  and  from 
essential  righteousness.  One  of  the  most  awful 
scenes  in  history  is  that  presented  by  the  con 
demnation,  betrayal,  and  execution  of  John  Huss 
by  authority  of  the  most  numerous  council  of 
ecclesiastics  ever  assembled  in  Christendom.  Huss 
— I  borrow  the  words  of  the  present  Bishop  of 
London— was  "stirred  only  by  his  desire  for  greater 
holiness  in  the  Church."  His  own  life  was  pure ;  * 
his  teachings  were  mostly  based  on  the  Scriptures ; 
his  personal  influence  was  always  good  ;  yet  he  was 
murdered  by  the  assembled  chiefs  of  Christendom, 
the  very  men  who — such  is  the  irony  of  history — 
had  been  engaged  in  deposing  a  Pope  for  monstrous 
crimes.t  The  action  of  the  Council  of  Constance 
represents  in  an  extreme  and  astounding  form  the 
general  attitude  of  the  Church  towards  "heresy" 
through  the  greater  part  of  her  history.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  there  should  have  been  provoked  in 
men's  minds  so  powerful  a  reaction,  that  now  little 
if  any  sense  of  the  peril  and  sinfulness  of  "heresy" 
survives  among  us  ?  The  grotesque  extravagances 

*  "  Of  pure  and  austere  life,  his  countenance  bore  the  traces  of  con 
stant  self-denial,  and  his  loftiness  of  purpose  lent  force  to  his  words." 
(p.  314.)  '*  His  letters  show  us  neither  a  fanalic  nor  a  passionate  party 
leader,  but  a  man  of  childlike  spirit,  whose  one  desire  was  to  discharge 
faithfully  his  pastoral  duties,  and  do  all  things  as  in  the  sight  of  God, 
and  not  of  man." — History  of  Papacy ,  vol.  i.  p.  330. 

t  To  fully  state  the  irony  of  history  it  is  necessary  to  add  that  the 
cardinal  doctrine  enunciated  at  Constance,  which  was,  indeed,  the 
assumption  of  the  Council's  action,  viz.,  the  superiority  of  a  General 
Council  to  a  Pope,  is  now  by  the  Vatican  Council  declared  to  be 
heresy.  It  is  permissible  to  think  that  in  due  course  the  same  fate 
will  overtake  the  foolish  and  arrogant  dogma  of  "  Papal  Infallibility." 
The,  instability  of  dogma  is  one  of  the  plainest  and  most  consolatory 
lessons  of  history. 


THE   CORINTHIAN    HERETICS        117 

which  arise  and  flourish  in  the  religious  sphere, 
provoking  the  contemptuous  ridicule  of  unbelievers 
and  the  grief  of  all  thoughtful  Christians,  must  be 
regarded  as  the  direct  outcome  of  the  abuse  of 
authority,  which  for  so  many  ages  was  normal  in 
Christendom.  Discipleship  to  Jesus  Christ  does 
involve  belief  in  a  divinely  -  revealed  doctrine,  to 
disbelieve  which  is  spiritually  perilous,  and  may  be 
spiritually  sinful.  But  the  essence  of  heresy  is 
wilfulness,  the  deliberate  choice  of  error  in  face  of 
a  clear  perception  of  the  truth  ;  and  there  may  be 
— we  know  there  is — much  formal  heresy  which 
has  no  wilfulness  in  it.  Concerning  such  we  cannot 
rightly  speak  of  guilt,  we  can  only  speak  of  spiritual 
loss.  Yet  for  ourselves  we  should  be  wise  to  adopt 
a  severer  standard  than  that  which  we  apply  to 
others.  We  are  far  more  responsible  for  our 
opinions  than  we  choose  to  remember.  Unhappily 
it  has  become  a  common  practice  for  men  to  speak 
about  their  opinions  as  matters  which  stand  outside 
all  laws.  Yet  there  are  laws  of  right  thinking,  to 
disregard  which  is  to  stand  self-condemned  of  folly. 
The  laws  of  language,  of  mathematics,  of  logic — 
these  cannot  be  set  at  naught  by  a  rational  thinker 
under  pain  of  exclusion  from  the  intercourse  of  sane 
men.  Analogous  to  this~is"^the*case  in  the  sphere 
of  religion.  Christians  are  men  who  believe  that 
Christ's  revelation  of  truth  constitutes  a  law  of  right 
thinking  about  religion,  which  cannot  be  set  aside 
without  grievous  loss.  Christians  are  men  whose 
consciences  have  ratified  and  made  response  to 
Christ's  claim :  and  departure  from  His  teaching 


ii8         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

must  in  this  case  involve  a  certain  infidelity  to 
conscience.  Nor  does  even  this  state  the  whole 
truth.  It  is  no  real  excuse  for  a  man  who  thinks 
unreasonably  that  he  never  cared  to  understand 

the  laws  which  govern  thought.  We  say,  and 
rightly,  that  it  is  every  man's  duty  to  understand 
and  obey  those  laws.  Mere  indolence  or  mere 
wilfulness  are  not  accepted  as  an  excuse  for  folly. 
So  also  in  the  religious  sphere.  Heresy  may,  and 
generally  does,  result  as  much  from  ignorance  as 
from  wilfulness  ;  but  ignorance  itself  has  an  origin. 
and  that,  for  most  of  us.  is  our  own  lazy  indifference 
to  truth.  Surely  we  are  responsible  for  the  religious 
errors  into  which  we  fall,  because  we  are  too  idle 
to  learn  or  too  vain  to  obey.  S.  Paul's  admonition 
to  the  Thessalonians  is  not  superfluous  for  the 
modern  Church  :  "  Prove  all  things  ;  hold  fast  that 
which  is  good?*  And  this  "proving"  or  "testing" 
to  which  the  Apostle  exhorts  his  converts  —  and 
which,  we  may  add,  was  never  more  needed  than 
in  this  age  and  land  of  unchecked  liberty  of  thought 
and  speech  —  can  only  lead  to  right  results  if  it  be 
pursued  by  right  methods.  Still  the  touchstone 
of  heresy  must  be  S.  Paul's  two-fold  test.  Does  it 
correspond  with  the  fundamental  facts  of  the 
faith?  Doesnakefbrrigiteousness? 


us 
tn 


Nor  do  I  think  thaotnTiassorinentnereis 
any  real  force  in  the  common  excuse  that  the 
fundamental  facts  of  Christianity  are  not  apparent 
to  all  students  of  the  Scripture,  or  equally  con 
ceived  by  all  professed  Christians.  For  most  men 
the  Creed,  which  has  for  more  than  fifteen  centuries 
officially  expressed  the  essential  elements  of  Christian 
*  i  Thess.  v.  21. 


THE   CORINTHIAN    HERETICS        119 

belief,  will  be  sufficiently  authoritative.  Few  will 
be  disposed  to  ask  for  a  better  statement  of  the 
faith  than  that  to  which  they  were  solemnly  pledged 
in  baptism.  The  manifold  and  subtle  heresy  of 
the  present  time  may  serve  to  sift  the  Church,  as 
formerly  among  the  Corinthians  the  "  heresies " 
made  manifest  those  that  were  approved.  Men 
show  the  metal  of  their  character  under  trial. 
Christians  show  the  quality  of  their  discipleship  in 
times  of  doubt  and  difficulty.  "  Watch  ye,  stand 
fast  in  the  faith^  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong.  Let 
all  that  ye  do  be  done  in  love''*  That  is  the 
counsel  with  which  S.  Paul  concludes  the  first 
Corinthian  Epistle.  Heresy  in  their  midst  is  to 
make  the  Corinthians  more  vigilant,  more  loyal,' 
more  resolute.  They  are  to  guard  the  sacred 
deposit  of  revealed  truth  against  the  assault  of 
error,  but  let  them  remember  that  even  that  high 
warfare  is  not  exempt  from  the  danger  that  belongs 
to  all  warfare.  The  combatant  may  be  hurried  by 
the  ardour  of  conflict  into  breaches  of  that  supreme 
and  ultimate  law  of  Christ — the  law  of  Love  — 
apart  from  obedience  to  which  even  loyalty  to 
truth  shrivels  into  fanaticism,  and  vigilance  against 
error  hardens  into  a  rigid  refusal  to  consider  any 
thing  which  is  unfamiliar  or  unpalatable.  But 
still  "  let  love  be  without  hypocrisy"  Let  no  man 
plead  charity  as  an  excuse  for  disloyalty  to  the 
truth.  Be  honest  as  well  as  charitable,  faithful  as 
well  as  courteous ;  true  as  well  as  liberal ;  and  thus 
"  speaking  truth  in  love "  be  ready  to  "  contend^ 
earnestly  for  the  faith  which  was  once  for  all 
delivered  to  the  saints  "\ 

*  i  Cor.  xvi.  i },  14.         f  Jude  iii. 


CHAPTER   IV. 
THE   APOSTOLIC   CREED 

THE  famous  Creeds  of  Christendom  do  not 
belong  to  the  earliest  ages  of  Christian  History; 
this,  indeed,  is  what  we  might  expect,  since,  for  the 
most  part,  those  Creeds  represent  the  self-defensive 
action  of  the  Church  rendered  necessary  by  the 
assaults  of  error.  Definition  of  belief  must  be 
subsequent  to  belief;  and,  perhaps,  marks  the  decline 
of  the  fresh  ardour  of  conviction.  Definition  belongs 
to  the  calmer,  colder  period  of  reflection,  of  examina 
tion,  of  deliberation.  So  it  may  not  be  doubted  that 
the  intensity  of  belief  is  greatest  when  creeds  are 
shortest ;  and  length  of  creeds  is  a  safe  index  to 
the  decay  of  faith.  In  our  Prayer-book  we  have 
three  Creeds,  and  the  latest  is  the  longest.  The 
Athanasian  Creed,  as  it  is  called,  belongs  obviously 
to  a  time  of  religious  controversy,  when  the  creed 
was  more  a  subject  of  desperate  disputing  than  of 
devout  conviction.  Long,  however,  as  is  the 
Athanasian  Creed,  it  is  a  small  thing  beside  the 
doctrinal  confessions  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
Creed  of  Pius  IV.,  or  the  Confession  of  Augsburg, 
or  our  own  Thirty-nine  Articles.  But  these  lengthy 
formulas  faithfully  reflect  the  aspect  of  an  age  which, 

1 20 


THE   APOSTOLIC   CREED  121 

beyond  all  ages,  was  distracted  by  religious  question 
ing.  In  the  earliest  times  of  the  Church,  then,  we 
shall  not  look  to  find  long  and  elaborate  Creeds,  nor, 
indeed,  any  fixed  and  generally  authoritative  written 
Creeds  at  all ;  but  we  shall  expect  to  find  what  may 
be  called  rudimentary  Creeds,  crystallisation  of 
Christian  conviction  on  certain  subjects,  real  though 
undefined  terms  of  Christian  fellowship. 

We  must,  on  the  threshold  of  our  inquiry,  try  to 
realize  the  convictions  which  the  Christian  Mission 
aries  found  ready  to  hand  in  their  converts.  The 
Religion  of  Christ  arose  in  the  midst  of  Judaism  ; 
it  was,  and  it  professed  to  be,  the  true  development 
of  Judaism ;  and  it  built  itself  on  the  foundation 
of  Jewish  belief.  Now  Judaism  was  a  national  and 
exclusive  system,  and  the  very_  characteristic  of 
Christianity  is  universality.  So  far  the  old  religion 
and  the  new  were  directly  opposed  ;  but  the  oppo 
sition  was  more  manifest  in  the  region  of  theory 
than  of  fact.  Judaism,  at  the  time  of  the  beginning 
of  Christianity,  had  acquired  by  a  variety  of  circum 
stances  a  cosmopolitan  character.  The  Diaspora,  or 
Dispersion,  was  spread  abroad  in  all  lands.  The 
translation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  into  Greek  had 
introduced  the  history  and  theology  of  Israel  to  the 
multitudes  of  the  Greek-speaking  population ;  the 
synagogue  system  had  easily  lent  itself  to  the 
purposes  of  a  propaganda,  and  myriads  of  prose 
lytes  gathered  round  the  Chosen  People.  While  the 
Hebrews  of  Palestine  laboured  to  draw  ever  more 
decisively  the  dividing-line  between  Israel  and  the 
world,  the  Hellenists,  Greek-speaking  Jews  of  the 


122         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Dispersion,  whose  principal  centre  was  the  renowned 
Greek  colony,  Alexandria,  had  admitted  into  their 
religion  wider  ideas,  and  established  relations  of  a 
friendly  character  with  their  Greek  neighbours.  "That 
non  -  Palestinian  Judaism,"  it  has  been  remarked, 
"  formed  the  bridge  between  the  Jewish  Church  and 
the  Roman  Empire,  together  with  its  culture.  The 
Gospel  passed  into  the  world  chiefly  by  this  bridge." 
We  know  that  the  Apostles  found  everywhere  in  the 
synagogues  their  first  preaching  centres,  and  in  the 
heathen  proselytes  who  frequented  the  synagogues 
their  earliest  converts.  It  has  even  been  questioned 
/whether  S.  Paul  ever  counted  among  his  converts 
any  who  had  not  gained  from  the  synagogue  a 
knowledge  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  Certainly  his 
Epistles,  with  their  frequent  reference  to  the  system 
and  sacred  writings  of  the  Jews,  make  it  evident  that 
such  knowledge  was  very  widely  possessed.  The 
Apostolic  Creed,  then,  included  the  beliefs  of 
Judaism.  The  unity  and  holiness  of  Gpd,  the 
vocation  of  Israel,  the  authority  of  the  Moral  Law, 
the  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament — these  were 
taken  for  granted  by  the  first  Christian  preachers. 
They  formed  the  foundation  upon  which  to  erect 
the  fabric  of  distinctively  Christian  conviction.  We 
advance  to  inquire  what  was  the  distinctively 
Christian  message?  If  we  study  the  New  Testa 
ment  we  shall  be  at  no  loss  for  the  answer.  The 
expressions  employed  in  the  Acts  to  describe  the 
Apostolic  preaching  convey  a  clear  notion  of  its 
character.  "  They  taught  the  people,  and  proclaimed  in 
Jesus  the  resurrection  from  the  dead''  *  "  Every  day, 

*  iv.  2. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   CREED  123 

in  the  temple  and  at  home,  they  ceased  not  to  teach 
and  to  preach  Jesus  as  the  Christ?  *  "  Philip  went 
down  to  the  city  of  Samaria,  and  proclaimed  unto 
them  the  Christ"  t  "  Straightway  in  the  synagogues 
he  proclaimed  Jesus  that  He  is  the  Son  of  God?  \ 
S.  Paul,  addressing  the  Ephesian  presbyters  on  the 
sea-shore  of  Miletus,  summed  up  his  own  preaching 
in  these  terms.  "  /  shrank  not  from  declaring  unto 
you  anything  that  was  profitable,  and  teaching  you 
publicly,  and  from  house  to  house,  testifying  both  to 
Jews  and  to  Greeks  repentance  toward  God  and  faith 
toward  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ' '§  And  with  this  we 
may  compare  the  same  Apostle's  declaration  before 
King  Agrippa.  "  Having  therefore  obtained  the  help 
that  is  from  God,  I  stand  unto  this  day  testifying  both 
to  small  and  great,  saying  nothing  but  what  the 
prophets  and  Moses  did  say  should  come ;  how  that 
the  Christ  must  suffer,  and  how  that  He  first  by  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  should  proclaim  light  both  to 
the  people  and  to  the  G  entiles?  \  From  these  and 
many  similar  passages  we  conclude  that  the  central.. 
Christian  message  was  that  Christ,  the  promised 
Messiah,  had  come,  died  on  the  Cross  for  the  sins 
of  .men,  had  risen  gloriously,  and  would  speedily 
return  to  judge  the  world._  The  crucial  question  of 
discipleship  was  whether  this  view  of  Christ  would 
be  accepted  or  not. 

There  are  two  narratives  of  conversion  in  the 
Book  of  the  Acts,  which  set  out  very  clearly 
the  actual  manner  in  which  the  great  issue  was 
presented  to  men.  The  first  is  in  the  eighth 
chapter,  and  records  the  conversion  of  the  Ethiopian 

*  v.  42.        f  viii.  5.        J  ix.  20.         §  xx.  20,  21.        ||  xxvi.  22,  23. 


124         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

eunuch.  It  is  worth  while  to  recall  the  episode. 
As  the  evangelist  approached  the  pious  traveller 
he  heard  him  reading  aloud  to  himself  the  53rd 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  and  immediately  volunteered  his 
help  as  an  expositor  of  the  sacred  and  mysterious 
text.  "Philip  opened  his  mouth,  and  beginning  from 
this  scripture,  preached  unto  him  Jesus.  And  as  they 
went  on  the  way,  they  came  unto  a  certain  water;  and 
the  eunuch  saith,  Behold  here  is  water ;  what  doth 
hinder  me  to  be  baptized?"  You  will  observe  in 
passing  that  S.  Philip  had  evidently  represented 
Baptism  as  the  necessary  act  of  professing  disciple- 
ship.  Here  there  has  been  interpolated  into  the  text 
a  passage  of  considerable  importance,  of  which  the 
antiquity  is  certainly  great,  and  which  may  be  fairly 
considered  to  represent  the  practice  of  the  Apostolic 
age.  It  forms  part  of  the  text  in  the  Authorised 
Version,  but  has  been  relegated  to  the  margin  in 
the  more  accurate  Revised  Version.*  "And  Philip 
said,  If  thou  believest  with  all  thy  heart,  thou  mayest. 
And  he  answered  and  said,  I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  Son  of  God"  The  eunuch's  profession  fairly 
represents  the  Apostolic  Creed. 

*  Dean  Alford's  note  on  the  interpolation  is  the  following: — "The 
insertion  appears  to  have  been  made  to  suit  the  formularies  of  the 
baptismal  liturgies,  it  being  considered  strange  that  the  eunuch  should 
have  been  baptized  without  some  such  confession.  It  appears  to  have 
been  one  of  those  remarkable  additions  to  the  text  of  the  Acts  common  in 
D.  (Codex  Bezce),  which  is  here  deficient,  and  its  cognates:  few  of  which, 
however,  have  found  their  way  into  the  received  text.  This  was  made 
very  early,  as  Irenneus  has  it.  The  manuscripts  which  contain  it  vary 
exceedingly :  another  strong  mark  of  spuriousness  in  a  disputed 
passage."  Professor  Ramsay  has  an  interesting  discussion  of  the 
problem  presented  by  Codex  Bezae  in  The  Church  in  the  Roman 
Empire,  pp.  151-168.  He  concludes  that  "the  revision  can  hardly 
be  dated  later  than  A.D.  150-160." 


THE   APOSTOLIC   CREED  125 

The  other  history  is  in  the  sixteenth  chapter,  and 
relates  the  conversion  of  the  Philippian  jailor.  The 
circumstances  of  that  conversion  were  unusual ;  amid 
the  excitement  and  terror  doubtless  words  were 
not  very  carefully  weighed ;  it  is,  however,  precisely 
in  such  spontaneous  utterances  that  men  discover 
their  real  convictions.  "Sirs,  what  must  I  do  to  be 
saved?"  cried  the  jailor,  kneeling  before  his  prisoners. 
"And  they  said,  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved,  thou  and  thy  house.  And  they  spake 
the  word  of  the  Lord  unto  him,  with  all  that  were 
in  his  house.  A  nd  he  took  them  the  same  hour  of  the 
night,  and  washed  their  stripes  ;  and  was  baptized,  he 
and  all  his,  immediately!'  Here  we  get  again  the 
same  Apostolic  Creed.  "  I  believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus."  We  may  compare  with  these  narratives 
from  the  Acts  the  testimony  of  the  Corinthian 
Epistles.  S.  Paul  seems  to  be  appealing  to  the 
notorious  belief  of  Christians  when  he  writes :  "For 
though  there  are  that  are  called  gods,  whether  in 
heaven  or  on  earth;  as  there  are  gods  many,  and 
lords  many :  yet  to  us  there  is  one  God,  the  Father, 
of  Whom  are  all  things,  and  we  unto  Him ;  and 
one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  through  Whom  are  all 
things,  and  we  through  Him."*  Here  the  Apostolic 
Creed  is  gathered  into  two  Articles.  "  I  believe 
in  one  God  the  Father,  and  in  one  Lord,  Jesus 
Christ"  We  have  in  another  passage  a  still  shorter 
formula.  "  Wherefore  I  give  you  to  understand  that 
.  ...  no  man  can  say,  Jesus  is  Lord,  but  in  the  Holy 
Spirit?  \  "  This  solemn  protestation,"  observes 

*  viii.  5-7.  t  xii.  3. 


126         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Harnack,  "  shows  that  he  who  acknowledged  Jesus  as 
/the  Lord,  and  accordingly  believed  in  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus,  was  regarded  as  a  full-born  Christian."  We 
may  compare  a  passage  from  the  second  Epistle. 
"For  we  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ  Jesus  as 
Lord,  and  ourselves  as  your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake!'* 
The  great  argument  about  the  Resurrection  in  I  Cor. 
xv.  is  prefaced  by  a  careful  and  detailed  statement 
of  Christian  belief.  It  is  at  once  the  longest  and 
most  significant  declaration  of  faith  which  the  Epistles 
contain.  The  solemnity  with  which  it  is  introduced 
may,  perhaps,  indicate  a  settled  and  recognized  form. 
"  Now  I  make  known  unto  you,  brethren,  the  gospel 
which  I  preached  unto  you,  which  also  ye  received, 
wherein  also  ye  stand,  by  which  also  ye  are  saved ; 
I  make  known,  I  say,  in  what  words  I  preached  it 
unto  you,  if  ye  hold  it  fast,  except  ye  believed  in  vain. 
For  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which 
also  I  received,  how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins 
according  to  the  Scriptures;  and  that  He  was 
buried ;  and  that  He  hath  been  raised  on  the  third 
day  according  to  the  Scriptures?  We  conclude, 
then,  that  the  Apostolic  Creed,  the  specifically 
Christian  doctrine,  which  was  added  to  the  belief 
about  God,  inherited  from  the  Jews,  was  the  con 
fession  of  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord,  including  in  that 
title  the  fact  of  His  Resurrection  from  the  dead. 

The  rapid  extension  of  Christianity  would  speedily 
compel  the  Apostles  to  make  some  provision  for  the 
teaching  of  their  numerous  converts.  The  simple 
acknowledgment  of  the  Lordship  of  Jesus  might, 

*  iv.  5. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   CREED  127 

indeed,  suffice  for  admission  into  the  Christian  society, 
but  some  completer  statement  of  the  truth  would  be 
required  to  provide,  in  the  absence  of  the  Apostles,  a 
groundwork  for  Christian  teaching  and  a  barrier 
against  error.  We  may  infer  from  the  language 
of  S.  Paul's  Epistles  that  such  a  statement  had 
even  at  that  early  stage  been  put  forward.  There 
are  three  passages  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
(which  is  nearly  coincident  in  date  with  the  Corinthian 
Letters)  to  which  I  will  call  your  attention.  In  the 
sixth  chapter  the  Apostle  blesses  God  for  the  conver 
sion  of  the  Romans.  "But  thanks  be  to  God"  he 
writes,  "that,  whereas  ye  were  servants  of  sin,  ye 
became  obedient  from  the  heart  to  that  form  of 
teaching  whereunto  ye  were  delivered"  The  "form  " 
or  "pattern "  (TUTTO?)  of  teaching  seems  to  mean 
an  authoritative  statement  of  Christian  doctrine. 
We  may  conjecture  that  since  no  Apostle  had  yet 
visited  Rome,  such  a  statement  would  be  almost 
indispensable  for  the  Church  in  that  city.  In  the 
tenth  chapter  we  find  a  passage,  which  certainly 
seems  to  indicate  a  formal  profession  of  belief  as 
inseparable  from  Christian  discipleship.  "The  word 
is  nigh  thee"  says  S.  Paul,  "  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy 
heart ;  that  is  the  word  of  faith,  which  we  preach  ; 
because  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  Jesus 
as  Lord,  and  shalt  believe  in  thy  heart  that  God  raised 
Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved ;  for  with  the 
heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness ;  and  with  the 
mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation''  Among 
the  closing  exhortations  of  the  Epistle  the  Apostle 
includes  an  urgent  warning  against  certain  disorderly 


128         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

brethren,  who  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  Church. 
"  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  mark  them  which  are 
causing  the  divisions  and  occasions  of  stumbling, 
contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  ye  learned  ;  and  turn 
away  from  them'.'  A  common  profession  of  faith  in 
the  terms  of  an  authorized  statement  would  power 
fully  assert  and  protect  the  unity  of  the  Church  , 
and  nothing  could  more  plainly  reveal  the  spirit  of 
division  than  the  refusal  to  accept  the  established 
formula.  So  we  find  S.  Paul,  in  rebuking  the  incipient 
schisms  of  Corinth,  lays  emphasis  on  this  matter. 
"  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  through  the  name 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ^  that  ye  all  speak  the  same 
thing,  and  that  there  be  no  divisions  among  you  ; 
but  that  ye  be  perfected  together  in  the  same  mind  and 
in  the  same  judgment''  S.  Paul,  indeed,  directly 
claims  Divine  authority  for  the  language  by  which 
he  had  expressed  the  verities  of  revelation.  "  Which 
things  also  we  speak,  not  in  words  which  man's  wisdom 
teacheth,  but  which  the  Spirit  teacheth  :  comparing 
spiritual  things  with  spiritual','  or  as  perhaps  the 
original  may  better  be  rendered,  "  interpreting  spiritual 
things  in  spiritual  terms''*  "  Christianity,"  observes 
M.  Re"nan,  "  not  finding  in  the  ancient  languages 


&.  Kdl  XaXoOyuej',  OVK  (v  5ida.KTO?s  dvOpwjrivrjs  crowds  \oyois,  dXX'  £v 
ITvei'/iaros,  TTvev/j-ariKOis  Tr^eu/iart/fa  ffvyKpivovres,  'combining 
the  spiritual  with  the  spiritual*  i.e.,  applying  spiritual  methods  to 
explain  spiritual  truths.  .  .  .  This  is  the  proper  meaning  of  vvyKpLvfiv, 
'  to  combine,'  as  5ta/cptVetv  is  '  to  separate.'  SiryKpfretJ',  it  is  true,  some 
times  gets  the  sense  of  'compare,'  as  in  2  Cor.  x.  12;  but  it  does 
not  suit  context  here,  whether  explained,  as  by  Chrysostom  and  others, 
of  comparing  the  types  of  the  Old  Testament  with  the  tidings  of  the 
New,  or  more  generally."  —  BP.  LIGHTFOOT,  Notes  on  Epp.  cf  S.  Paul, 
p.  1  80. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   CREED  129 

an  instrument  adapted  to  its  needs,  has  broken  them 
up."*  It  is  certainly  true  that  Christianity  has 
created  for  itself  a  new  vocabulary,  of  which,  indeed, 
the  words  are  old,  but  the  rich  spiritual  sense  is 
wholly  new. 

The  necessity  for  Creeds,  in  the  modern  sense  of 
the  term,  would  become  apparent  when  Apostles  were 
withdrawn  from  the  Church.  We  possess  in  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  what  may  be  called  counsels  for 
governing  the  Church  when  the  Apostles  have  dis 
appeared.  S.  Paul,  in  those  Epistles,  appears  to 
contemplate  the  future,  and,  as  far  as  he  can,  to 
arrange  for  its  requirements.  It  is,  then,  natural  that 
he  should  directly  refer  to  a  fixed  form  of  belief.  He 
calls  it  "  the  faith"  or  "  the  mystery  of  the  faith"  or 
"  the  sound  doctrine"  or  "  the  deposit"  or  "  the  pattern 
of  sound  words  I'  or  "  the  faithful  ivord  which  is  accord 
ing  to  the  teaching!'  or  "  the  mystery  of  godliness'' 
He  seems  to  quote  it  when  he  bids  S.  Timothy 
"  Remember  Jesus  Christ,  risen  from  the  dead,  of  the 
seed  of  David,  according  to  my  gospel"]  "  Without 
controversy"  he  cries,  "great  is  the  mystery  of  godli 
ness  ;  He  Who  was  manifested  in  the  flesh,  justified 
in  the  spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  among  the  nations, 
believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  in  glory. "I  And 
again,  "  There  is  one  God,  one  Mediator  also  between 
God  and  man,  Himself  man,  Christ  Jesus,  Who  gave 
Himself  a  ransom  for  <?//."§  This  Creed  is  the  touch 
stone  of  heresy  and  the  test  of  orthodoxy;  it  is  to 

*  "  Le  christianisme,  ne  trouvant  pas  dans  les  langues  anciennes  un 
instrument  approprie  a  ses  besoins,  les  a  brisees." 

t  2  Tim.  ii.  8.  %  I  Tim.  iii.  16.  §  Ibid.  ii.  5. 

K 


130         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

be  held  fast,  and  fought  for  by  the  faithful  Christian. 
Timothy  is  to  carefully  transmit  it  to  the  succeeding 
age.  "  The  things  which  thou  hast  heard  from  me 
among  many  witnesses,  the  same  commit  thou  to  faith 
ful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others  also'' *  This 
Apostolic  Creed  seems  to  have  substantially  coincided 
with  the  formula  which  for  sixteen  centuries  has  been 
the  Baptismal  Confession  of  Christendom,  which  we 
rehearse  in  our  public  worship,  and  know  by  the  not 
unsuitable  name  of  "the  Apostles'  Creed."  It  is  the 
oldest  and  the  simplest  of  the  Creeds. 

It  would  surely  be  a  mistake  to  limit  the  belief  of 
the  Apostolic  Church  to  the  few  articles  which  (as  we 
have  shown)  formed  its  creed.  We  have  but  to  read 
these  Corinthian  Epistles  to  perceive  how  rich  was 
the  faith  of  the  first  believers.  "Of  Him  are  ye  in 
Christ  Jesus,  Who  was  made  unto  us  wisdom  from 
God,  and  righteousness  and  sanctification  and  redemp 
tion?  \  All  theology  is  grandly  summarized  in  that 
one  verse.  But  the  aim  of  the  Apostolic  Creed  was 
not  to  state  the  whole  faith,  but  its  essence.  That 
essence  is  still,  as  at  the  first,  discipleship  to  a  living 
Teacher.  "  Jesus  is  Lord."  "  The  essence  of  the 
matter,"  observes  Harnock,  "  is  a  personal  life  which 
awakens  life  around  it  as  the  fire  of  one  torch  kindles 
another."} 

It  may  be  that  in  these  later  ages  of  the  Church, 
when  the  faith  of  the  Christian  is  set  forth  in  many 
and  lengthy  doctrinal  formulas,  and  has  been  "de- 

*  2  Tim.  ii.  2.  f  I  Cor.  i.  30. 

J  History  of  Dogma,  vol.  i.  p.  71.     (Theol.  Trans.  Lib.:  Williams 
and  Norgate.) 


THE   APOSTOLIC   CREED  131 

veloped"  into  an  elaborate  and  coherent  theology, 
that  its  original  essence  has,  in  a  measure,  been 
buried  and  forgotten.  Christianity  has  been  regarded 
as  pre-eminently  a  matter  of  orthodox  profession  ;  it 
has  ceased  to  be  primarily  what  it  is  essentially, 
discipleship  to  a  living  Lord,  perhaps _we ^may  fined 
here  that  most  significant  combination,  which  surely 
.is  not  the  least  remarkable  sign  of  the  times,— on  the 
one  hand,  ardent  admiration  of  Jesus  Christ,  on  the 
other,  avowed  hostility  to  current  Christianity.  There 
is  an  intuitive  perception  in  many  minds  that  for 
modern  Christians  the  faith  of  Jesus  has  undergone 
a  transformation  not  for  the  better,  but  for  the  worse. 
The  living  Lord  has  retired  into  the  background  of 
Christian  thought,  and  His  place  in  the  affections  of 
those  who  own  His  Lordship  has  been  filled  by 
theology,  or  the  Church,  or  even  the  Church  policy. 
If  this  be  so,  and  in  so  far  as  it  is  so,  we  have,  indeed, 
grave  and  urgent  cause  for  self-examination  and 
searching  of  heart.  We  have  need  to  return  to  the 
Apostolic  Creed,  to  bring  ourselves,  it  may  be  for 
the  first  time,  into  the  presence  of  Jesus,  to  submit 
ourselves  frankly  to  the  influence  of  His  Personality, 
to  own  Him  from  our  hearts  to  be  what  we  have  so 
often  asserted  with  our  lips,  our  Lord,  in  a  word,  to  be 
dimples. 

This  shall  be  our  orthodoxy,  our  standard  of  fellow 
ship,  even  S.  Paul's.  "  If  any  man  lovcth  not  the  Lord, 
let  him  be  anathema''*  In  the  light  of  this  discipleship 
the  Creeds,  the  Church,  the  Sacraments,  the  Preach 
ing,  the  Discipline  of  Christianity  will  take  their 

*   I  Cor.  xvi.  22, 


132         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

right  place ;  real,  precious,  even  necessary  to  disciple- 
ship,  but  empty,  valueless,  even  harmful  apart  from 
discipleship.  The  old  order  will  be  re-asserted  in 
our  experience.  First  we  shall  be  disciples,  then 
brethren  and  members.  The  positive  laws  of  ordered 
religion  will  be  obeyed  in  the  loving  spirit  of  true 
discipleship.  Self-suppression  will  no  longer  be  the 
arduous  achievement  of  discipline,  but  the  eager 
sacrifice  of  love.  The  Blessed  Sacrament  will  take 
its  supreme  place  in  our  spiritual  life  when  we  realize 
that  therein  we  are  brought  into  the  closest  fellowship 
with  Tesus.  The  grace  of  that  Adorable  Eucharist 
will  flow  forth  into  our  lives,  enriching  them  with 
tender  consolations  and  sublime  hopes.  Failure  and 
disappointment,  inexorable  hardships  of  undeserved 
obloquy,  the  silent  gnawing  of  unappeasable  desire, 
the  unuttered  sorrows  of  defeated  purpose — all  the 
mysterious  shadows  which  lie  darkly  on  life,  defraud 
ing  it  of  sunshine,  and  driving  the  chill  of  despair 
into  the  hearts  of  men — all  these  passing  into  His 
Presence,  seen  in  relation  to  His  Person,  borne  for 
His  sake,  shall  underpass  a  strange  and  blessed 
transfigurement.  Instead  of  their  former  repulsive 
aspect  they  shall  acquire  a  new  character,  a  new  use, 
becoming  so  many  mystic  links  binding  our  ex 
periences  into  His,  and  us  to  Him.  So  the  Enigma 
of  Christian  Heroism  shall  be  renewed  in  the 
humblest  disciple's  life,  and  the  great  language  of 
the  Apostle  express  a  normal  and  common  con 
viction.  "  We  are  pressed  on  every  side,  yet  not 
straitened:  perplexed  yet  not  unto  despair:  pursued, 
yet  not  forsaken ;  smitten  down,  yet  not  destroyed; 


THE   APOSTOLIC   CREED  133 

always  bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  Jesus ', 
that  the  life  also  of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our 
bodyr* 

Nor  is  it  only  in  the  activities  of  life  that  the 
power  of  this  discipleship  shall  be  proved.  When  the 
last  crisis  comes  upon  us,  and  by  manifold  tokens 
we  know  ourselves  to  be  passing  into  the  "  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death,"  when  we  are  alone  in  the 
drear  naked  solitude  of  the  last  hour, — in  that  time 
of  rigorous  testing,  when  all  that  is  earthly,  all  that  is 
merely  human,  all  that  is  not  real,  shall  fall  from  our 
side, — not  even  then  shall  the  Apostolic  Creed  have 
lost  its  virtue.  Jesus  shall  fill  our  failing  vision. 
Jesus  shall  meet  us  on  the  eternal  shore.  It  is  the 
same  Sun  which  shrouds  in  splendour  the  dying  day, 
and  lightens  in  the  East  the  waxing  glory  of  the 

dawn. 

*  2  Cor.  iv.  8-10. 


CHAPTER  V. 
BAPTISM. 

THE  subject  of  this  chapter  bears  a  character 
which  must  be  described  as  contentious  ;  among 
English-speaking  Christians  it  has  been  made  the 
occasion  of  extensive  and  obdurate  separation.  It 
does  not,  however,  correspond  with  the  character  of 
this  volume  to  discuss  it  from  a  contentious  stand 
point,  or  in  a  contentious  spirit  Our  primary  object 
is  not  to  justify  or  to  condemn  any  modern  doctrines 
or  usages,  but  to  discover  what  was  the  real  aspect  of 
Apostolic  Christianity.  When  by  honest  and  fearless 
examination  of  the  evidences  we  have  obtained  a 
definite  conception  of  the  original  belief  and  order  of 
the  Church  of  Christ,  we  shall  be  in  a  better  position 
to  decide  upon  the  validity  of  modern  versions  of  that 
belief  and  order.  Our  discussion  may  conveniently 
fall  into  three  parts.  In  the  first,  we  shall  discuss  the 
practice  and  method  of  Holy  Baptism;  in  the  second, 
the  prerequisites  of  the  Sacrament ;  in  the  third,  its 
grace.  Our  chief  authority  throughout  must  be  the 
New  Testament,  and,  according  to  our  general  plan, 
we  shall  particularly  consider  the  witness  of  the 
Corinthian  Epistles. 

I.  We  found  occasion  to  observe  with  reference  to 
the  Apostolic  Creed  that  it  included  the  fundamental 

134 


BAPTISM  135 

beliefs  of  Judaism  ;  much  the  same  might  be  said 
with  respect  to  the  usages  of  the  Apostolic  Church. 
Our  Blessed  Lord  adopted  ceremonies  which  were 
familiar  and  generally  significant  not  only  among  the 
Jews,  though  undoubtedly  among  them  in  special 
measure,  but  even  among  the  heathen.  The  idea  of 
religious  purification  as  symbolized,  and  in  some 
sense  realized  by  the  "washing  of  water"  was  rooted 
in  Jewish  and  Gentile  religion.  Christ  took  up  the 
well-known  usage  of  Baptism,  and  filled  it  with 
deeper  significance.  He  created  the  Sacrament  out 
of  existing  religious  material.  If  it  be  allowed — and 
certainly  the  position  seems  extremely  probable — 
that  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  first  century 
of  our  era  the  Jews  were  wont  to  baptize  proselytes, 
then  we  have  an  extremely  close  parallel  to  the 
Christian  rite  actually  established  in  contemporary 
Judaism.  How  close  is  the  parallel  will  be  manifest 
from  the  following  account  of  the  Jewish  Baptism  :— 
"  It  was  indeed  a  great  thing  when,  in  the  words  of 
Maimonides,  a  stranger  sought  shelter  under  the 
wings  of  the  Shekinah,  and  the  change  of  condition 
which  he  underwent  was  regarded  as  complete.  The 
waters  of  Baptism  were  to  him  in  very  truth,  though 
in  a  far  different  from  the  Christian  sense,  the  '  bath 
of  regeneration.'  As  he  stepped  out  of  these  waters 
he  was  considered  as  '  born  anew,'  in  the  language  of 
the  Rabbis,  as  if  he  were  '  a  little  child  just  born,'  as 
'  a  child  of  one  day.'  But  this  new  birth  was  not 
'  a  birth  from  above '  in  the  sense  of  moral  or  spiritual 
renovation,  but  only  as  implying  a  new  relationship 
to  God,  to  Israel,  and  to  his  own  past,  present,  and 


i36         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

future.  It  was  expressly  enjoined  that  all  the 
difficulties  of  his  new  citizenship  should  first  be  set 
before  him,  and  if,  after  that,  he  took  upon  himself 
the  yoke  of  the  law,  he  should  be  told  how  all  those 
sorrows  and  persecutions  were  intended  to  convey 
a  greater  blessing,  and  all  those  commandments  to 
redound  to  greater  merit.  More  especially  was  he  to 
regard  himself  as  a  new  man  in  reference  to  his  past. 
Country,  home,  habits,  friends,  and  relations  were  all 
changed.  The  past,  with  all  that  had  belonged  to  it, 
was  past,  and  he  was  a  new  man — the  old,  with  its 
defilements,  was  buried  in  the  waters  of  Baptism."* 

On  the  assumption  that  Baptism  with  this  signifi 
cance  was  familiarly  known  to  the  numerous  Gentiles 
who  as  "proselytes  of  the  gate,"  or  as  "proselytes 
of  righteousness,"  or  "proselytes  of  the  covenant," 
had  been  drawn  into  a  relationship,  more  or  less 
intimate,  with  the  Jewish  system,  and  reminding 
ourselves  that  the  converts  to  Christianity  were  in 
Apostolic  times  mainly  drawn  from  these  proselytes, 
we  can  understand  how  easily  and  naturally  the 
new  Christian  Sacrament  would  commend  itself  to 
the  hearers  of  the  Gospel.  The  Ethiopian  eunuch's 
question  to  S.  Philip — "  What  doth  hinder  me  to  be 
baptized?" — would  occur  to  most  of  those  who  were 
impressed  with  the  truth  of  the  Christian  message. 
Moreover,  in  direct  relation  to  the  mission  of  our 
Lord  stood  the  mission  of  S.  John  the  Baptist, 
whose  familiar  appellation  points  to  the  most  con 
spicuous  feature  of  his  ministry.  The  Evangelists 
relate  that  S.  John  described  his  Baptism  as  the 

*  EDERSHEiM,y<?.s7<.r,  the  Messiah^  App.  xii.  vol.  ii.  p.  746. 


BAPTISM  137 

prophetic  type  of  a  Baptism  shortly  to  be  inaugurated 
of  more  mysterious  character  and  diviner  virtue.  "  / 
indeed  baptize  you  with  water  unto  repentance :  but 
He  that  cometh  after  me  is  mightier  than  /,  whose 
shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  bear :  He  shall  baptize  you 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire?  *  Several  of 
Christ's  apostles,  many  of  His  personal  disciples, 
were  drawn  from  the  number  of  the  Baptist's 
followers,  and  this  fact  also  leads  us  to  conclude 
that  the  Christian  Sacrament  at  its  first  introduction 
did  not  wear  a  novel  appearance,  but  harmonized 
with  the  customs  and  expectations  of  the  disciples. 
We  learn  from  the  history  of  the  Acts  that  from 
the  very  beginning  the  practice  of  baptizing  converts 
was  followed  ;  and  indeed  we  cannot  doubt,  in  face 
of  the  evidence,  that  it  was  invariably  followed. 
Moreover,  it  seems  evident  that  almost,  if  not  quite 
universally,  the  method  of  Baptism  was  that  which 
is  known  as  total  immersion.  That  was  the  Jewish 
method ;  that  also  was  the  method  of  S.  John ; 
that  is  the  method  suggested  by  every  reference 
to  Christian  Baptism  which  the  New  Testament 
contains.  The  impressive  imagery  of  the  Sacrament, 
on  which  S.  Paul  dwells  in  several  of  his  epistles, 
appears  to  require  it.  Nor  do  I  attribute  very 
much  weight  to  the  common  and,  at  first  sight, 
weighty  arguments  based  on  the  practical  im 
possibility  of  immersing  3000  persons  in  Jerusalem, 
a  city  by  no  means  well  supplied  with  water,  or 
on  the  similar  difficulty  in  the  case  of  the  Philippian 
jailor.  It  is  hardly  clear  how  the  narrative  in  the 

*  S.  Matt.  iii.  u. 


138         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Acts  ought  to  be  understood  ;  and  the  difficulties  of 
a  literal  understanding  appear  to  me  more  formid 
able  the  more  I  consider  the  narrative ;  moreover 
it  is  by  no  means  true  that  the  water  supply  of 
Jerusalem  was  so  meagre  as  to  negative  a  numerous 
baptism  by  immersion.  In  the  jailor's  case  the 
assumed  difficulty  in  the  way  of  immersion  does 
not  appear  to  exist.  There  was  a  river  at  Philippi, 
on  the  bank  of  which,  apparently,  the  Jewish 
residents  were  wont  to  meet  for  prayer.  The 
Apostle  had  already  baptized  Lydia  and  her  house 
hold,  doubtless  in  the  river ;  it  is  by  no  means 
improbable  that  the  jailor,  who  seems  from  his 
appeal  to  his  Christian  prisoners  to  have  had  some 
notion  of  the  new  religion,  was  acquainted  with 
the  circumstance  of  the  purple-seller's  conversion. 
S.  Paul  would  naturally  suggest  to  the  convert  a 
visit  to  the  river-bank  for  the  purpose  of  his  Baptism  ; 
and  since  the  jailor  is  expressly  said  to  have  given 
liberty  to  the  Apostle  and  his  companion,  there -seems 
no  reason  why  the  Baptism  should  not  have  been 
easily  performed.  But  while  I  thus  insist  that  there 
is  no  evidence  in  the  New  Testament  of  any  other 
method  of  Baptism  than  that  of  total  immersion, 
I  do  not  for  one  moment  believe  that  the  Apostles 
would  have  condemned  another  method  under 
special  circumstances.  I  believe  the  Apostolic 
administration  of  the  Sacrament  is  very  fairly 
represented  by  the  rules  in  the  Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  as  it  is  called,  a  little  manual 
discovered  a  few  years  ago,  and  apparently  with 
good  reason  supposed  to  have  been  written  about 


BAPTISM  139 

the  close  of  the  Apostolic  age,*  and  at  one  time 
read  in  the  public  assemblies  of  the  faithful  as  an 
Apostolic  document.  We  conclude  this  part  of  our 
discussion  by  reading  the  rules  there  laid  down  :— 

"  But  concerning  Baptism  baptize  thus :  Having 
said  beforehand  all  these  things  (i.e.,  the  moral 
teachings  which  fill  the  preceding  part  of  the 
treatise),  baptize  ye  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  living 
water."  t 

Probably  at  first  Baptism  was  "into  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jestts"  as  is  stated  in  the  account  of  the 
Baptism  of  the  twelve  disciples  of  S.  John  the 
Baptist,  whom  S.  Paul  baptized  at  Ephesus. 
"  Living  water "  is,  of  course,  running  water ;  all 
the  earliest  representations  in  art  of  Holy  Baptism 
represent  the  baptized  as  standing  in  a  stream  up 
to  the  knees  or  even  the  middle,  and  the  baptizer 
standing  on  the  bank,  apparently  intending  to 

*  "Eusebius  puts  the  Didache  last  among  the  ecclesiastical  but 
uncanonical  and  spurious  books  (ev  TO??  vodois),  and  in  the  same 
category  with  '  The  Acts  of  Paul,'  '  The  Shepherd  of  Hermas,'  '  The 
Apocalypse  of  Peter,'  'The  Epistle  of  Barnabas,'  i.e.,  with  writings 
which  were  publicly  used  in  some  churches,  but  which  he  himself  as 
an  historian  with  good  reason  did  not  find  sufficiently  authenticated 
and  intrinsically  important  enough  to  entitle  them  to  a  place  among 
the  '  Homologumena,'  or  even  among  the  seven  '  Antilegomena,' 
which  are  now  parts  of  the  New  Testament  canon."  (ScHAFF, 
The  Oldest  Church  Manual^  p.  116.)  This  writer  "assigns  the 
Didache  with  some  confidence  to  the  closing  years  of  the  first  century, 
say,  between  A.D.  90  and  100."  This  seems  to  be  Bishop  Lightfoot's 
opinion  also.  See  Apostolic  Fathers^  vol.  i.  p.  390,  note  I.  [Harnack, 
however,  places  the  Didache  later,  I3i-c.  160.  Die  Chronologie  der 
Altch.  Lift.,  p.  438.] 

t  vii.  i. 


140         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

plunge    or    dip    him    in    the   water.      The    manual 
proceeds : — 

"  But  if  thou  hast  not  living  (or  running)  water, 
baptize  in  other  water ;  and  if  thou  canst  not  in 
cold,  then  in  warm.  But  if  thou  have  not  either, 
pour  water  thrice  upon  the  head  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost."  * 

This  is  the  earliest  recognition  of  the  sufficiency  of 
the  method,  now  generally  prevailing  in  the  Church, 
of  "  affusion  "  or  "  pouring."  As  far  as  I  know  the 
method  of  "sprinkling"  has  no  authority,  either 
ancient  or  modern.  The  rules  conclude  with  the 
following : — "  But  before  the  Baptism  let  him  that 
baptizeth  and  him  that  is  baptized  fast,  and  any 
others  who  can ;  but  thou  shalt  bid  him  that  is 
baptized  fast  one  or  two  days  before."t 

II.  We  proceed  to  inquire  what  were  the  pre 
requisites  of  Baptism  in  the  Apostolic  age?  They 
are  summed  up  in  the  two  words,  repentance  and 
faith.  The  record  of  the  earliest  Baptism  no-  doubt 
reflects  the  normal  process  of  the  Sacrament.  The 
spoken  message  struck  home  to  the  consciences  of 
the  hearers ;  they  appealed  for  guidance  to  the 
Christian  Preacher ;  in  every  case  the  same  demand 
was  made  upon  them.  Repent  and  be  baptized. 
"Let  all  the  house  of  Israel  know  assuredly,  that  God 
hath  made  Him  both  Lord  and  Christ,  this  Jesus, 
Whom  ye  crucified" \  There  was  the  Gospel  in  a 
sentence :  the  very  core  and  pith  of  the  message. 
"  Now  when  they  heard  this,  they  were  pricked  in  their 
heart,  and  said  unto  Peter  and  the  rest  of  the  Apostles, 
*  Ibid.  2,  3.  t  Ibid.  4.  j  Acts  ii.  36. 


BAPTISM  141 

Brethren,  what  shall  we  do  ?  A  nd  Peter  said  unto 
them,  Repent  ye,  and  be  baptized,  every  one  of  you, 
in  the  Name  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  the  remission  of 
sins  ;  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
.  .  .  They  then  that  received  his  word  were  baptized" 

The  question  will  probably  arise,  Were  infants 
baptized  in  the  Apostles'  times?  The  question  is 
not  wholly  easy  to  answer.  That  the  children  of 
Christians  were  believed  to  inherit  a  measure  of 
religious  advantage  cannot  be  questioned.  Even 
one  Christian  parent  sufficed  to  convey  a  sacred 
character  to  the  children.  So  S.  Paul  writes  to  the 
Corinthians,  "For  the  unbelieving  husband  is  sanctified 
in  the  wife,  and  the  unbelieving  wife  sanctified  in  the 
brother  :  else  were  your  children  unclean  ;  but  noiv  are 
they  holy''*  Accordingly  we  find  that  S.  Paul 
accounts  children  to  be  members  of  the  Church  ;  they 
are  included  in  the  exhortations  which  he  addresses 
to  the  Christians  of  Ephesus  and  Colossae.  "Children, 


*  I  Cor.  vii.  14.  iiyiaffTOit  yap  6  dvrjp  6  <S7ri<rros  tv  rrj  yvvoAKi,  KO.I 
Tjyiao-Tai  i)  yvvT]  TJ  <S7rt<rroj  tv  ry  d5c\0y*  tird  &pa  TCL  -riKva.  vpuv 
dKdOaprd  6m,  vvv  5£  &yid  tarw.  Godet  discusses  this  passage  at 
some  length,  and  insists  that  the  reference  is  to  Infant  Baptism. 
(Corinthiens,  i.  p.  312-318.)  Ep.  Lightfoot  is  neutral,  though  clearly 
in  sympathy  with  a  baptismal  reference.  "The  passage  is  not  to 
be  pressed  on  either  side  ;  no  inference  can  be  drawn  here  against 
the  practice  of  Infant  Baptism.  On  the  contrary,  the  expression 
tells  rather  in  its  favour.  Certainly  it  enunciates  the  principle  which 
leads  to  Infant  Baptism,  viz.,  that  the  child  of  Christian  parents 
shall  be  treated  as  a  Christian."  (Notes  on  Epp.  of  S.  Paul,  p.  226.)  It 
is  worth  noting  that  S.  Chrysostom  does  not  seem  to  understand 
any  reference  to  Baptism.  Robertson,  of  Brighton,  writes  charac 
teristically  :  v.  Lecture  XV.  on  the  Epp.  to  the  Corinthians.  The 
bearing  of  the  passage  on  the  modern  practice  of  indiscriminate 
baptizing  of  infants  is  important.  See  the  Discourse  on  this  subject 
appended  to  this  volume. 


142         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord''  "Children,  obey  your 
parents  in  all  things,  for  this  is  well-pleasing  in  the 
Lord''  Fathers  are  exhorted  to  "  nurture  them  in  the 
chastening  and  admonition  of  the  Lord''  In  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  the  emphasis  laid  on  the  right 
conduct  of  the  bishop's  or  deacon's  family  points 
in  the  same  direction.  Thus  the  bishop  or  presbyter 
must  be  "  one  that  ruletJi  well  his  own  house,  having 
his  children  in  subjection  with  all  gravity ;  (but  if  a 
man  knoiveth  not  how  to  rule  his  own  house,  how 
shall  he  take  care  of  the  church  of  God?")*  S.  Paul 
almost  suggests  that  the  family  should  be  organized 
as  a  little  model  of  the  larger  family  of  the  Church.f 
S.  Titus  is  admonished  to  "appoint  elders  in  every 
city"%  men  whose  qualifications  include  the  possession 
of  a  Christian  family.  "If  any  man  is  blameless,  the 
husband  of  one  wife  having  children  that  believe, 
who  are  not  accused  of  riot  or  unruly!'  It  seems 
impossible  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  children 
of  Christian  parents  were  regarded  as  naturally 
entitled  to  receive  Baptism,  and  did,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  ordinarily  receive  the  Sacrament.  This  con 
clusion  is  strengthened  by  the  undoubted  fact  that 
Baptism  was  regarded  as  the  parallel  in  the  new 
Covenant  of  circumcision  in  the  Old  ;  that,  accord 
ingly,  it  served  all  the  purposes  of  circumcision,  while 
it  completely  superseded  it,  being  transcendently 
superior  in  grace  and  dignity.  "In  whom"  (i.e.,  in 
Christ),  writes  S.  Paul  to  the  Colossians,  "ye  were 

*  1  Tim.  iii.  4-5. 

t  Cf.  S.  Chrysostom's  expression,  "a  house  is  a  little  church,"  T]  OIK  la 
ybp'EKK\f]<Tia  tarl  fj.iKpd.    Horn.  XX.  in  Eph.  (Gaume  vol.  xi.  p.  173.) 
;  Titus  i.  5. 


BAPTISM  143 

also  circumcised  with  a  circumcision  not  made  with 
hands,  in  the  putting  off  of  the  body  of  the  flesh \ 
in  the  circumcision  of  Christ ;  having  been  buried 
with  Him  in  Baptism"* 

The  beautiful  passage  in  which  Irenaeus  describes 
the  method  and  virtue  of  Christ's  Incarnation  seems 
to  assume  the  Baptism  of  children.!  "  For  He  came 
to  save  all  through  Himself;  all,  I  mean,  who  through 
Him  are  born  anew  unto  God,  infants,  and  little 
children,  and  boys,  and  youths,  and  elders.  Accord 
ingly  He  came  through  every  age,  with  infants 
becoming  an  infant,  hallowing  infants ;  among  little 
children  a  little  child,  hallowing  those  of  that  very 
age,  at  the  same  time  making  Himself  to  them  an 
example  of  dutifulness  and  righteousness,  and  sub 
jection  ;  among  young  men  a  young  man,  becoming 
an  example  to  young  men,  and  hallowing  them 
to  the  Lord.  So  also  an  elder  among  elders,  that 
He  might  be  a  perfect  Teacher  in  all  things,  not 
only  as  regards  the  setting  forth  of  the  Truth,  but 
also  as  regards  age,  at  the  same  time  hallowing  also 
the  elders,  becoming  likewise  an  example  to  them. 
Lastly,  He  came  also  even  unto  death,  that  He  might 
be  the  first  begotten  from  the  dead,  Himself  holding 
the  primacy  in  all  things,  the  Author  of  life,  before 
all  things,  and  having  precedence  of  all  things." 

I  think,  therefore,  that  the  evidence  justifies  the 
consistent  belief  and  practice  of  the  Church  in  the 
matter  of  baptizing  infants.  For  the  most  part, 
however,  the  Church,  in  Apostolic  times,  was  com- 

*  ii.  u,  12. 

t  DR.  HORT'S  translation  in  Ante-Nicene  Fathers^  p.  72. 


144         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

posed  of  men  and  women  who  had  been  converted 
in  adult  life,  and  who  were  baptized  as  adults.  We 
have  already  considered  what  was  the  nature  of  the 
profession  of  belief  which  they  were  required  to 
make ;  what  their  repentance  was,  I  need  not  say, 
every  penitent  will  understand  it ;  yet  it  is  requisite  to 
point  out  that  it  seems  to  have  been  expressed  in 
Apostolic  times  by  a  public  confession  of  sin.  The 
scene  at  Ephesus  was  typical.  "Many  that  had 
believed  came,  confessing  and  declaring  their  deeds"* 
But,  indeed,  in  the  New  Testament  repentance  and 
audible,  detailed  confession  seem  inseparable. 

III.  Finally,  we  turn  to  consider  the  Apostolic 
doctrine  of  Holy  Baptism.  What  did  the  first 
Christians  believe  to  be  the  effect  of  the  simple 
and  familiar  ceremony  by  which  they  were  publicly 
and  formally  constituted  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ?' 
In  the  very  brief  time  at  my  disposal  I  can  do  no 
more  than  indicate  the  merest  outlines  of  their  belief. 
Holy  Baptism  was  believed  to  change  the  spiritual 
status  of  the  baptized.  He  henceforward  stood 
towards  Almighty  God  in  a  new  relationship.  It 
was  no  excessive  use  of  language  to  describe  the 
change  as  a  passing  out  of  death  into  life.  "And 
you  did  He  quicken"  is  S.  Paul's  phrase  to  the 
Ephesians,  "when  ye  were  dead  through  your 
trespasses  and  sins."]  The  baptized  person  was  by 
his  Baptism  wonderfully  and  most  really  associated 
with  the  Death  and  Resurrection  of  Jesus.  This, 
indeed,  was  the  manifest  teaching  of  the  external 
ceremony  :  the  disappearance  under  the  water 
*  Acts  xix.  1 8.  t  Eph.  ii.  I. 


BAPTISM  145 

pictured  burial ;  the  reappearance  pictured  the  life 
from  the  grave.  "Are  ye  ignorant"  writes  S.  Paul 
to  the  Romans,  "  that  all  we  who  were  baptized  into 
Christ  Jesus  were  baptized  into  His  Death?  We 
were  buried  therefore  with  Him  through  Baptism  into 
death:  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead 
through  the  glory  of  the  Father,  so  we  also  might 
walk  in  newness  of  life"'  *  From  this  union  of  the 
baptized  with  Christ  two  consequences  flowed.  On 
the  one  hand,  it  cancelled  the  sins  of  the  past ;  on 
the  other  hand,  it  imparted  a  principle  of  Divine 
Life  to  the  baptized.  The  water  of  Baptism  was 
the  means  by  which  the  Blood  of  Jesus  was  applied 
to  the  penitent  and  believing  sinner.  So  S.  Paul, 
warning  the  Corinthians  against  sin,  reminds  them 
in  these  impressive  words  of  their  Baptism.  "  Ye 
were  washed,  ye  were  sanctified,  ye  were  justified  in 
the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  Spirit 
of  our  God''  \  This  grace  of  Baptism  was,  indeed, 

*  vi.  3-4. 

t  I  Cor.  vi.  II.  dXXo,  aTreXotfcrcurfle,  dXXa  TTyidadrjTe,  dXX'  tdiKaiuOrjTe 
£v  T$  6v6fJ.a.Ti  TOU  Kvpfou  'ITJCTOU  XpiaroO  ccaJ  tv  ry  Ilve^/itm  rou  Oeou 
TJ/J.UV.  Godet  understands  here  a  reference  to  the  full  baptismal 
formula.  (S.  Matthew  xxviii.  19.)  In  confirmation  of  this  view  he 
adduces  Acts  xix.  1-6,  where  S.  Paul's  question,  "  Into  what  then 
were  ye  baptized?"  seems  to  involve  an  accustomed  mention  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  Baptism.  The  common  expression,  "  to  baptize  into 
the  name  of  Jesus,"  "est  une  forme  abregee  pour  designer  le  bapteme 
chretien  en  general."  He  further  adduces  the  fact  that  the  Trinitarian 
formula  is  found  in  the  Didache.  [vide  Corinthiens,  i.  pp.  275-6.]  On 
the  other  hand,  the  evidence  of  early  Church  history  is  not  favourable 
to  this  view  :  "  After  the  third  century  the  formula  of  Baptism  was 
the  name  of  the  Trinity,  and  Baptism  otherwise  performed  was  declared 
invalid.  But  in  the  early  Church,  as  also  in  the  Apostolic  age,  there 
is  evidence  that  the  baptismal  formula  of  the  name  of  Jesus  only  was 
not  unusual." — ALLEN,  Christian  Institutions,  p.  403, 
L 


146  APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  most  prominent  of  all.  To  sin-burdened  men 
the  remission  of  sins  was  of  all  spiritual  boons  the 
most  precious.  The  exhortation  of  Ananias  to  the 
penitent  Saul  at  Damascus  was  the  most  welcome 
message  conceivable.  "And  now  why  tarriest  thou? 
arise  and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins,  calling 
on  His  Name"*  But  vast  as  is  this  boon  of  remission, 
it  were  but  a  transitory,  nay,  an  illusory  possession, 
if  it  added  no  securities  for  future  forgiveness.  No 
doubt  the  theory  of  discipleship  supposed  a  life  of 
holiness  following  upon  the  death  to  sin  in  Baptism  ; 
and  very  awful  language  was  employed  to  describe 
the  guilt  and  peril  of  sin  in  the  baptized.  The 
probable  interpretation  of  the  terrible  passage  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  understands  the  "en 
lightenment  "  which  may  not  be  renewed  of  Baptism. 
"For  as  touching  those  who  were  once  enlightened  and 
tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift,  and  were  made  partakers 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  tasted  the  good  word  of  God, 
and  the  powers  of  the  age  to  come,  and  then  fill  away, 
it  is  impossible  to  renew  them  again  unto  repentance ; 
seeing  they  crucify  to  themselves  tJie  Son  of  God  afresh, 
and  put  Him  to  an  open  shamed  t  The  exact  sense 
of  this  fatal  "  falling  away "  is  hard  to  determine ; 
but  the  whole  tone  of  the  Epistles  precludes  the 
notion  that  it  is  identical  with  sin  as  such.  The 
Corinthian  Epistles  are  conspicuously  full  of  warn 
ings  against  sin,  even  gross  sin,  yet  they  are  addressed 
to  "saints,"  that  is,  baptized  Christians.  The  "one 
Baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins  "  carried  its  blessed 
virtue  not  alone  to  the  past,  but  also  to  all  the  life 

*  Acts  xxii.  16.         t  Heb.  vi.  4-5. 


BAPTISM  147 

of  the  baptized.  For  it  placed  him  within  the 
sphere  of  forgiveness ;  it  made  him  member  of  the 
Divine  Society  which  has  received  from  Jesus  Christ 
the  "power  of  the  Keys."  So  to  repentance  the 
promise  of  renewed  forgiveness  is  ever  sure.  "Godly 
sorrow  worketh  repentance  unto  salvation"  writes 
S.  Paul,  "<?  repentance  which  bringeth  no  regret" ;* 
and  S.  John  speaks  very  plainly :  "  If  we  say  that 
we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is 
not  in  us.  If  we  confess  our  sins,  He  is  faithful  and 
righteous  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from 
all  unrighteousness  "\  And  with  these  teachings  of 
Apostles  accords  the  word  spoken  by  Jesus  Christ 
in  the  Upper  Room,  and  always  understood  by  the 
Church  of  Baptism.  "  He  that  is  bathed  needeth  not 
save  to  wash  his  feet,  but  is  clean  every  whit"  +  Within 
the  Church  men  are  ever  within  reach  of  forgiveness. 
No  sins  are  too  gross,  no  rebellion  is  too  obdurate 
and  protracted  to  defeat  the  virtue  of  Christ's 
Atonement,  so  only  the  sinner  truly  repent,  and 
make  honest  confession,  and  renounce  his  sin. 
"  The  Blood  of  Jesus  His  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all 
sin." 

Baptism  introduces  into  the  sphere  of  the  Holy 
Ghost — it  is  the  "laver  of  regeneration  ';§ — in  it  men 
are  "born  of  water  and  tJie  Spirit '."||  Hence  it  is 
the  basis  of  Christian  equality.  All  secular  distinc 
tions  lose  their  meaning  in  the  new  Life  therein 
conferred.  Within  the  family  of  God  all  by  title 
of  their  common  origin  are  equal.  "For  ye  are  all 

*  2  Cor.  vii.  10.  f  i  John  i.  8-9.  %  S.  John  xiii.  10. 

§  Titus  iii.  5.  ||  S.  John  iii.  5. 


148          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Sons  of  God,  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus?  writes 
S.  Paul  to  the  Galatians,  and  he  immediately  adds 
an  explanation.  "For  as  many  of  you  as  were 
baptized  into  Christ  did  put  on  Christ.  There  can 
be  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  there  can  be  neither  bond 
nor  free,  there  can  be  no  male  or  female,  for  ye  are  all 
one  man  in  Christ  Jesus"*  Baptism  being  thus  the 
basis  of  Christian  equality  is  also  the  basis  of 
Christian  fellowship,  the  principle  of  Church  unity. 
"For  in  one  Spirit  ivere  we  all  baptized  into  one 
body,  whether  Jeivs  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or  free; 
and  were  all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit?  t  Christians 
are  one  because  they  live  by  virtue  of  the  same  life- 
giving  inspiration  ;  they  are  all  inhabited  by  the  same 
Spirit.  "  Know  ye  not" — is  the  earnest  phrase  of  the 
Apostle — "Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  a  temple  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have  from 
God?  "I 

We  may  read  in  the  wonderful  eighth  chapter  of 
the  Roman  Epistle  what  an  Apostle  considered  the 
meaning  of  the  Baptismal  Gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
"If  any  man  hath  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  Jte  is 
none  of  His.  .  .  .  But  if  the  Spirit  of  Him  which 
raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwelleth  in  you,  He 
that  raised  up  Christ  Jesus  from  the  dead  shall 
quicken  also  your  mortal  bodies  through  His  Spirit 
that  dwelleth  in  you" 

S.  Peter's  famous  parallel  between  the  water  of 
Baptism  and  the  water  which  floated  the  Ark  of 
Salvation  expresses  the  general  doctrine  of  the 
New  Testament.  Then,  in  the  traditional  Deluge, 

*  Gal.  iii.  26-28.  t  I  Cor.  xii.  13.  %  Ibid.  vi.  19. 


BAPTISM  149 

the  saving  agent  was  water;  so  it  is  still:  "After 
a  true  likeness  (water)  doth  now  save  you ,  even  Baptism, 
not  the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  but  the 
interrogation  of  a  good  conscience  toward  God,  tlirougJi 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ"*  The  humble  and 
familiar  agent  carries  to  the  penitent  and  believing 
soul  the  saving  power  of  Christ's  Risen  Life.  The 
simple  Sacrament  at  once  tries  faith  and  helps  it ; 
by  its  simplicity  confounding  natural  wisdom,  and 
altogether  disappointing  human  pride ;  by  its  Divine 
Authority  consoling  the  misgivings  of  the  lowly,  and 
firing  the  heart  of  the  disciple  with  the  passion  of 
conviction.  In  Baptism  man  is  nothing;  God  is 
everything.  "  When  the  kindness  of  God  our  Saviour 
and  His  love  toward  man  appeared,  not  by  works  done 
in  righteousness,  which  we  did  ourselves,  but  according 
to  His  mercy  He  saved  us,  through  the  washing  of 
regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  He 
poured  out  upon  us  richly \  through  Jesus  Christ ?\ 

*  I  Peter  iii.  21.  f  Titus  iii.  4-5. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  HOLY   COMMUNION 

WE  may  repudiate  at  once  all  intention  of  em 
barking  on  the  large  and  important  subject 
of  Eucharistic  controversy.  Not  one  chapter,  but 
a  bulky  volume  would  be  necessary,  I  do  not  say,  to 
do  justice  to  that  subject,  but  even  to  present  it 
in  any  tolerable  shape.  Moreover,  such  a  discussion 
hardly  belongs  to  our  present  inquiry.  We  are  seek 
ing  to  gain  a  true  conception  of  Apostolic  Christianity, 
and  our  principal  authority  is  S.  Paul,  who,  in  the 
Epistles  to  Corinth,  has  given  us  a  picture,  drawn 
by  a  master's  hand,  of  an  Apostolic  Church.  We 
shall  divide  our  discussion  into  two  parts :  *  in  the 
first,  we  shall  discuss  the  administration  of  the  Holy 
Communion  ;  in  the  second,  the  doctrine  held  by  the 
Corinthians  as  to  the  Sacrament. 

But  first  let  me  repeat  a  warning.  We  must  not 
look  for  detailed  and  thorough  teaching  about  the 
Holy  Eucharist  in  the  Epistles  before  us.  We 
showed  above  that  the  conditions  under  which  these 
writings  took  shape  preclude  the  notion  of  systematic 
instruction.  S.  Paul  deals  with  practical  matters, 
which  were  urgent,  which  were  causing  scandal, 
which  threatened  worse  scandal.  In  so  far  as  the 
Holy  Sacrament  was  concerned  in  the  disorders 

150 


THE   HOLY   COMMUNION  151 

the  Apostle  deals  with  it,  but  no  farther.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  Corinthian  disorders  did  affect, 
and  that  very  closely,  their  treatment  of  the 
Eucharist,  and,  therefore,  the  Epistle  designed  to 
correct  them  is  rich  beyond  all  other  New  Testament 
writings,  save  the  fourth  Gospel,  in  sacramental  teach 
ing.  But  we  must  be  careful  to  appreciate  justly 
the  language  used :  and,  in  order  to  do  so,  we  must 
endeavour  to  place  ourselves  in  the  position  of  the 
Corinthians,  and  to  understand  the  Apostle's  words 
from  their  standpoint.  We  shall  return  to  this  point 
presently. 

We  observe  that  the  Sacrament  was  evidently  the 
central  act  of  Christian  worship.  It  superseded  the 
sacrifices  and  sacrificial  meals  of  the  heathen  ;  it  was 
to  the  Jewish  Christian  all  and  more  than  all  that  his 
Passover  had  been.  It  had  been  instituted  by  the 
Lord  Himself  in  direct  connexion  with  His  own 
Redemptive  Death.  We  cannot  fail  to  recognize 
the  close  agreement  which  all  this  presents  between 
the  Epistles  and  the  Evangelic  narratives.  We 
have  already  alluded  to  the  evidential  importance 
of  this  agreement ;  here  we  content  ourselves  with 
merely  pointing  to  it. 

The  fullest  account  of  the  administration  of  the 
Holy  Communion  is  contained  in  the  eleventh 
chapter.  The  Apostle,  having  ordered  that  in  the 
religious  assemblies  the  women  should  be  veiled, 
continues :  "  But  in  giving  you  this  charge,  I  praise 
you  not,  that  ye  come  together  not  for  the  better  but 
for  the  worse.  For,  first  of  all,  when  ye  come  together 
in  the  church  [i.e.,  in  religious  assembly],  /  hear  that 


152          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

divisions  exist  among  you ;  and  I  partly  believe  it. 
For  there  must  be  also  heresies  [or  factions]  among 
yoUy  that  they  which  are  approved  may  be  made 
manifest  among  you!'  S.  Paul  has  had  occasion 
earlier  in  the  Epistle  to  denounce  the  factions  of 
Corinth ;  he  is  now  about  to  deal  with  their  most 
scandalous  exhibition.  "  When  therefore  ye  assemble 
yourselves  together,  it  is  not  possible  to  eat  the  Lord's 
Supper:  for  in  your  eating  each  one  taketh  before 
other  his  own  supper ;  and  one  is  hungry  and  another 
is  drunken.  What  ?  have  ye  not  houses  to  eat  and  to 
drink  in  ?  or  despise  ye  the  Church  of  God,  and  put 
them  to  shame  that  have  not  ?  What  shall  I  say  to 
you  ?  sJiall  I  praise  you  in  this  ?  I  praise  you  not" 
We  may  remark  that  in  this  passage  S.  Paul  goes 
some  way  towards  using  the  word  "Church,"  eKK\t]<rla, 
in  the  familiar  modern  sense  of  a  consecrated  build 
ing.  We  know  that  in  Apostolic  times  there  were 
no  churches ;  but  the  faithful  assembled  in  one 
another's  houses. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Lord's  Supper 
was  preceded  by  the  common  meal,  or  Agape, 
and  that  the  shocking  abuses  denounced  by  S. 
Paul  belonged  primarily  to  the  latter.  The  associa 
tion  seems  to  have  continued  far  into  the  sub- 
Apostolic  age.  The  name  "Eucharist"  seems  to 
have  extended  both  to  the  Agape  and  to  the 
Lord's  Supper.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  second 
century  we  have  the  authority  of  Pliny's  letter  to 
the  Emperor  Trajan  for  saying  that  the  two  rites 
were  separated.  The  language  of  the  letter  is  not 
free  from  ambiguity ;  but  on  the  whole  it  may  be 


THE    HOLY   COMMUNION  153 

most  reasonably  understood  as  a  description  of  the 
Holy  Communion  in  the  early  morning.  Pliny  is 
reporting  what  he  had  discovered  about  the  Chris 
tians  in  Bithynia,  and  this  is  what  he  says : — 

"  They  maintained  that  the  amount  of  their  fault 
or  error  was  this,  that  it  was  their  habit  on  a  fixed 
day  to  assemble  before  daylight  and  sing  by  turns 
a  hymn  to  Christ  as  a  god;  and  that  they  bound 
themselves  with  an  oath  (sacminento)  not  for  any 
crime,  but  not  to  commit  theft  or  robbery  or  adultery, 
not  to  break  their  word,  and  not  to  deny  a  deposit 
when  demanded.  After  this  was  done  their  custom 
was  to  depart  and  meet  together  again  to  take 
food  ;  and  even  this  (they  said)  they  had  given  up 
doing  after  the  issue  of  my  edict,  by  which  in 
accordance  with  your  commands  I  had  forbidden 
the  existence  of  clubs."* 

It  is  possible  that  Trajan's  edict  suppressing  the 
clubs,  which  for  the  time  destroyed  the  Agapae, 
may  have  actually  brought  about  the  separation  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  from  the  common  meal.  This 
may  be  doubted.  One  thing,  however,  is  certain  : 

*  Professor  Ramsay  ( The  Church  in  the  Roman  Empire]  discusses 
Pliny's  Report  and  Trajan's  Rescript.  "  Among  the  strict  regulations 
about  societies,  the  Roman  Government  expressly  allowed  to  all  people 
the  right  of  meeting  for  purely  religious  purposes.  The  morning 
meeting  of  the  Christians  was  religious  ;  but  the  evening  meeting  was 
social,  including  a  common  meal,  and  therefore  constituted  the 
Christian  community  a  sodalitas.  The  Christians  abandoned  the  illegal 
meeting,  but  continued  the  legal  one.  The  fact  is  one  of  the  utmost 
consequence.  It  shows  that  the  Christian  communities  were  quite 
alive  to  the  necessity  of  acting  according  to  the  law,  and  of  using  the 
forms  of  the  law  to  screen  themselves  as  far  as  was  consistent  with 
their  principles."  (p.  219.)  Bishop  Lightfoot,  however,  thinks  that 
the  Agape  was  still  united  with  the  Eucharist  when  Ignatius  wrote 


154          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  language  of  S.  Paul  in  censure  of  the  Corinthian 
excesses  necessitated  the  formal  severance,  after  a 
longer  or  shorter  interval,  of  the  social  feast  from 
the  religious  Communion.  The  character  of  those 
excesses  more  than  justified  the  Apostle's  severity. 
They  not  only  destroyed  the  character  of  the  Agape, 
but  they  defamed  the  more  awful  mystery  which 
followed  the  Agape. 

"  The  abuses  which  he  (S.  Paul)  reproved  and 
sought  to  abolish  were  of  two  kinds,"  observes 
Weizacker.  "  First,  the  congregation  divided  into 
groups,  the  rich  having  their  meals  prepared  without 
reference  to  the  others,  and  the  poor  requiring  to 
wait.  Thus  the  difference  in  means  and  style  of 
living  could  not  but  wound,  while  the  meal  of  the 
wealthier  degenerated  into  sensuality.  In  con 
sequence  of  this,  again,  the  Lord's  Supper  itself, 
the  commemoration,  was  neglected,  if  not  altogether 
given  up.  The  feeling  for  it  was  lost,  the  order 
thrown  into  confusion,  the  very  formula  had  to  be 
insisted  upon  by  Paul."  The  Apostle  introduces 
that  formula  with  great  solemnity ;  as  it  stands  in 

nis  Epistles,  i.e.,  A.D.  100-118.  "In  the  Apostolic  age  the  Eucharist 
formed  part  of  the  Agape.  The  original  form  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
as  it  was  first  instituted  by  Christ,  was  thus  in  a  manner  kept  up. 
This  appears  from  I  Corinthians  xi.  17  sq.  (compare  Acts  xx.  7),  from 
which  passage  we  infer  that  the  Celebration  of  the  Eucharist  came,  as 
it  naturally  would,  at  a  late  stage  in  the  entertainment.  In  the 
Doctr.  Apost.,  10,  this  early  practice  is  still  observed.  In  after  times, 
however,  the  Agape  was  held  at  a  separate  time  from  the  Eucharist. 
Had  this  change  taken  place  before  Ignatius  wrote?  I  think  not." 
The  Bishop  describes  as  "precarious "  the  inference  drawn  from 
Pliny's  letter  by  Professor  Ramsay  and  others.  ( Vide  Apostolic 
Fathers,  Part  II.  vol.  ii.  p.  313-4.)  For  the  subsequent  history  of 
the  Agape  see  note  at  end  of  chapter. 


THE   HOLY   COMMUNION  155 

the  text  of  the  Epistle  it  forms  the  oldest  account 
we  possess  of  the  Institution  of  the  Eucharist. 

"For  I  received  [7rape\a/3ov]  of  the  Lord  that 
which  also  I  delivered  [TrapeSooKo]  unto  you,  how  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  night  in  which  He  was  be 
trayed  took  bread ;  and  when  He  had  given  thanks ', 
He  brake  it,  and  said,  This  is  My  Body,  which  is 
for  you  ;  this  do  in  remembrance  of  Me  [e*V  TY\V  e^v 
ai/a/xi/iya-ai/].  In  like  manner  also  the  Cup,  after  Supper, 
saying,  This  Cup  is  the  new  Covenant  in  My  Blood ; 
this  do  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it,  in  remembrance  of 
Me"  That  was  the  Formula  of  Consecration  used 
at  Corinth,  and  doubtless  everywhere  in  Apostolic 
times ;  it  was  not  written  down  ;  the  New  Testament 
as  yet  did  not  exist,  and  the  Liturgies  were  yet 
unknown ;  but  it  had  become  customary ;  it  had 
taken  a  definite  shape ;  it  was  an  incipient  "  Canon 
of  the  Mass."  The  slight  differences  which  are 
noticeable  between  the  four  accounts  of  the  Institu 
tion,  extremely  interesting  and  suggestive  in  them 
selves,  do  but  serve  to  bring  into  prominence  the 
practical  identity  of  formula  used  by  the  Apostolic 
Church  in  the  Holy  Communion.  S.  Paul  adds  a 
comment,  which  might  well  arrest  the  most  reckless 
of  the  offending  Corinthians.  "For  as  often  as  ye  eat 
this  bread,  and  drink  the  Cup,  ye  proclaim  the  Lords 
Death  till  He  come.  Wherefore  whosoever  shall  eat 
the  bread  and  drink  tJie  cup  of  the  Lord  unworthily, 
shall  be  guilty  of  the  Body  and  the  Blood  of  the  Lord. 
But  let  a  man  prove  himself,  and  so  let  him  eat  of  the 
bread,  and  drink  of  the  Cup.  For  he  that  eateth  and 
drinketJi,  eateth  and  drinketh  judgment  [/c/o/^ta]  unto 


156         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

himself,  if  he  discern  not  the  body!*  S.  Paul  does 
not  scruple  to  ascribe  the  sickness  and  mortality 
then  prevalent  among  the  Corinthians  to  their  sins 
against  the  Sacrament.  "For  this  cause  many  among 
you  are  weak  and  sickly,  and  not  a  few  sleep? 

It  seems  sufficiently  evident  that  all  the  members  of 
the  Church  received  the  Eucharist.  We  may  be  sure 
that  others  were  not  only  not  permitted  to  receive,  but 
were  not  even  permitted  to  be  present.  In  course  of 
time  the  dismissal  of  the  non-communicants  became 
a  recognized  feature  of  the  Liturgy;  and,  curiously 
enough,  it  has  provided  the  name  by  which  in  the 
Latin  Church  the  Sacrament  has  been  for  many 
centuries  commonly  called.  As  is  well  known,  the 
word  "  Mass  "  is  only  a  corruption  of  missa,  or  missio, 
the  dismissal,  which  formerly  took  place  at  a  fixed 
point  in  the  service.  Some  such  procedure  must 
have  existed  even  in  the  Apostolic  Church,  for  it 
is  evident  from  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  Epistle 
before  us  that  the  Christian  assemblies  were  acces 
sible  even  to  unbelievers,  who  certainly  could  not 
have  witnessed  the  "breaking  of  bread."  S.  Justin 
Martyr,  in  his  account  of  the  Celebration,  says : — 

"  And  this  Food  is  called  by  us  Eucharist,  and  it  is 
not  lawful  for  any  man  to  partake  of  it,  but  he  who 
believes  our  teaching  to  be  true,  and  has  been 
washed  with  the  washing  which  is  for  the  forgiveness 
of  sins  and  unto  a  new  birth,  and  is  so  living  as 
Christ  commanded.  For  not  as  common  bread  and 
common  drink  do  we  receive  these ;  but  like  as  Jesus 
Christ  our  Saviour  being  made  flesh  through  the 
Word  of  God  had  both  flesh  and  blood  for  our 


THE    HOLY    COMMUNION  157 

salvation,  so  also  were  we  taught  that  the  food 
for  which  thanks  are  given  by  the  prayer  of  His 
word,  and  from  which  our  blood  and  flesh  by  con 
version  are  nourished,  is  both  flesh  and  blood  of  that 
Jesus  who  was  made  flesh."* 

We  may  be  sure  that  the  Holy  Communion  was 
commonly  administered  on  the  Lord's  day,  that  is, 
among  the  Jewish  Christians  on  the  Sabbath  evening, 
which  would  be  considered  the  beginning  of  the 
Lord's  day.  Such,  probably,  was  the  case  at  Troas, 
where  we  read  that  "  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
when  we  (i.e.,  S.  Luke  and  the  Apostle's  company) 
were  gathered  together  to  break  bread,  Paul  discoursed" 
at  such  length,  as  to  prolong  the  assembly  until  day- 
break.f  Thus  the  celebration  was  originally  a  night- 
service  ;  and,  after  the  Agape  had  been  definitely 
separated  from  it,  the  service  took  place  in  the  early 
morning.  It  has  been  well  observed  J  that  this 
arrangement  was  almost  a  necessity  of  the  case 
in  a  society  numbering  many  slaves  among  its 
members,  who  would,  of  course,  have  to  work  on 
Sunday  as  well  as  on  other  days.  "  The  Sacrament 
of  the  Eucharist,"  observes  Tertullian,  "  though  it 
was  commanded  by  the  Lord  at  meal-time  and  to  all, 
we  take  in  assemblies  before  daybreak,  and  from  the 
hand  of  no  others  except  our  Presidents."  The 
older  practice  of  evening  communion  lingered  in 

*  Apologia,  i.  66.  S.  Justin  proceeds  to  describe  the  method  of 
Christian  worship. 

t  Acts  xx.  7,  8,  ii. 

JBy  Bishop  WORDSWORTH,  The  Holy  Communion,  p.  59.  I  have 
drawn  much  from  this  valuable  book,  where  the  references  are 
collected. 


158          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  remoter  districts,  as  for  instance  in  Egypt,  as 
late  as  the  fifth  century;  but  generally  from  the  close 
of  the  first  century  the  custom  of  the  Church  has 
been  to  celebrate  the  Holy  Eucharist  in  the  morning, 
and  to  insist  upon  fasting  as  a  condition  of  reception. 
It  is  greatly  to  be  deplored  that  in  recent  years  a 
certain  number  of  English  clergymen — not,  I  think, 
a  large  number,  and,  I  believe,  a  diminishing  number 
— have  permitted  themselves  to  violate  the  settled 
custom  of  the  Church  through  eighteen  centuries, 
by  celebrating  the  Holy  Communion  in  the  evening, 
and  encouraging  the  practice  of  non-fasting  Com 
munion.  It  is  not  in  my  opinion  a  subject  for 
discussion.  It  comes  within  the  class  of  those 
matters  which  must  be  and  ought  to  be  settled 
by  the  general  conduct  of  the  Church.  I  answer  the 
objector  in  S.  Paul's  words.  "  If  any  man  seemeth 
to  be  contentiotis,  we  have  no  such  custom,  neither  the 
Churches  of  God"*  We  may  conclude  this  part  of 
our  discussion  by  reading  the  rules  of  the  little 
treatise  known  as  The  leaching  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  which  does  probably  present  a  very  faithful 
picture  of  Apostolic  Christianity.  It  is  deserving  of 
notice  that  here,  as  in  S.  Justin's  description  and  in 
Pliny's  Letter,  there  is  an  inseparable  connection 
between  conduct  and  Holy  Communion. 

"  And  on  the  Lord's  own  day  gather  yourselves 
together  and  break  bread  and  give  thanks,  first 
confessing  your  transgressions,  that  your  sacrifice 
may  be  pure.  And  let  no  man,  having  his  dispute 
with  his  fellow,  join  your  assembly  until  they  have 
been  reconciled,  that  your  sacrifice  may  not  be 

I  Cor.  xi.  1 6. 


THE    HOLY   COMMUNION  159 

defiled ;  for  this  sacrifice  it  is  that  was  spoken  of 
by  the  Lord.  In  every  place  and  at  every  time  offer 
Me  a  pure  sacrifice ;  for  I  am  a  great  King,  saith 
the  Lord)  and  My  Name  is  wonderful  among  the 
nations!'* 

We  pass  on  now  to  gather  in  very  brief  outline  the 
Sacramental  Teaching  of  these  Corinthian  Epistles. 
What  did  S.  Paul  teach  his  converts  as  to  the  grace 
and  dignity  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  ?  "  If  we  compare 
I  Cor.  x.  17  and  xi.  27,"  says  Weizacker,  "then  it  is 
clear  that  by  the  body  Paul  alternately  understands 
the  Church  and  Jesus  Himself,  applying  it  to  the 
former,  doubtless,  by  means  of  the  interpretation 
of  the  simile  of  the  bread,  as  a  unity  composed  of 
many  grains  of  corn.  xii.  27  furnishes  the  connecting 
link  between  the  two  applications :  the  Church  is  one 
body,  but  tJie  body  of  Christ  Himself."  It  is  necessary 
to  consider  these  three  passages  more  carefully. 

In  the  tenth  chapter  S.  Paul  is  warning  the 
Corinthians  against  idolatry.  They  were  disposed 
to  minimize  the  significance  of  their  presence  at 
the  idolatrous  feasts,  and  partaking  of  sacrificial 
meats.  "  What  difference  can  the  idols  make  ? " 
they  said,  "we  know  idols  are  really  mere  shams. 
Why  should  we  hold  aloof  from  the  society  of  our 
neighbours,  because  they  are  so  stupid  as  to  think 
the  feasts  and  the  meats  in  some  sense  sacred  to  the 
idols  ? "  S.  Paul's  method  of  arguing  is  this.  He 
points  the  Corinthians  to  the  Sacrament.  What  that 
Sacrament  means  to  you  Christians,  he  says,  that 
the  Idol-feasts  mean  to  your  neighbours,  and  will  be 

*  Chap.  xiv. 


160          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

understood  to  mean  to  you  also.  The  heathen  ex 
pressed  their  religious  unity  with  one  another,  and 
with  their  gods  by  those  sacrificial  feasts.  To  partake 
at  the  idol  table  was  to  publicly  unite  oneself  to  the 
body  of  devotees,  and  to  make  oneself  by  solemn 
symbolic  act  partaker  of  the  idol's  life.  Therefore, 
such  partaking  involved  nothing  less  than  the 
negation  of  discipleship.  It  stultified  the  Christian 
position.  "  I  speak  as  to  wise  men ;  judge  ye  what 
I  say.  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not 
a  communion  [KOIVMVIO]  of  (i.e.,  participation  in)  the 
Blood  of  Christ?  The  bread  which  we  break,  is  it 
not  a  communion  [KOLVMVLO]  of  the  body  of  Christ? 
seeing  that  we,  who  are  many,  are  one  bread,  one 
body ;  for  we  all  partake  of  the  one  bread.  .  .  .  Ye 
cannot  drink  the  cup  of  the  Lord,  and  the  cup  of  devils  ; 
ye  cannot  partake  of  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and  of  the 
table  of  devils!'  We  may  compare  the  expressions 
in  the  Eucharistic  petition  contained  in  The  Teaching. 

"  As  this  broken  bread  was  scattered  upon  the 
mountains  and  gathered  together  became  one,  so 
let  Thy  Church  be  gathered  together  from  the  ends 
of  the  earth  into  Thy  kingdom,  for  Thine  is  the  glory 
and  the  power  through  Jesus  Christ  for  ever." 

The  Holy  Communion  was  not  only  the  external 
sign  by  which  the  disciples  of  Christ  might  be 
recognized,  but  it  conveyed  the  Divine  Life  by 
which  the  individual  disciples  were  united  by  a  living 
bond  with  Jesus  Christ.  It  sustained  the  mystic 
union  with  the  Lord  which  Holy  Baptism  had 
created.  So  necessarily  the  idea  of  the  mystical 
Body,  the  Church,  passed  into  the  idea  of  Christ 


THE    HOLY   COMMUNION  161 

Himself  as,  through  the  Sacrament,  bestowing  His 
own  life-giving  Presence.  Christians  became  one 
Body  because  they  received  one  Divine  Life. 

The  consecrated  Elements  were  seen  to  possess  a 
more  awful  character.  They  conveyed  the  very  Life 
of  the  Lord  ;  they  were  spiritually  His  Body  and 
His  Blood.  Therefore  the  gross  irreverence  of  the 
Corinthians  had  a  more  heinous  guilt  ;  it  involved 
the  ignoring,  perhaps  the  scorning  of  the  Lord 
Himself.  "For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread,  and  drink 
the  cup,  ye  proclaim  the  Lords  Death  till  He  come. 
Wherefore  whosoever  shall  eat  the  bread  or  drink 
the  cup  of  the  Lord  unworthily  [ovafi'a*]  shall  be  guilty 
of  the  body  and  the  blood  of  the  Lord'1*  We 


*  S.  Chrysostom  interprets  "unworthy  receiving"  in  two  ways. 
I.  Generally,  of  that  hard,  shameless  temper  which  permits  in  the 
communicant  open  breaches  of  the  Christian  law,  and  especially 
(cf.  v.  22)  contempt  of  the  poor.  "These  things  let  us  also  listen 
to,  all  of  us,  as  many  as  in  this  place  approach  with  the  poor  to 
this  Holy  Table,  but  when  we  go  out,  do  not  seem  even  to  have 
seen  them,  but  are  both  drunken,  and  pass  heedlessly  by  the  hungry  ; 
the  very  things  whereof  the  Corinthians  were  then  accused.  And 
when  is  this  done?  say  you.  At  all  times,  indeed,  but  especially 
at  the  festivals,  where,  above  all  times,  it  ought  not  so  to  be.  Is 
it  not  so,  that  at  such  times,  immediately  after  the  Communion, 
drunkenness  succeeds,  and  contempt  of  the  poor?"  (Horn.  XXVII. 
c.  5  in  i  Cor.  )  2.  More  exactly,  of  a  gross  forgetfulness  of  the  inherent 
dignity  of  the  Sacrament.  "Not  discerning  the  Lord's  Body,  i.e., 
not  examining  well,  not  bearing  in  mind  as  he  ought,  the  greatness 
of  the  things  set  before  him  ;  not  estimating  the  dignity  [6yKov]  of  the 
gift.  For  if  thou  shouldest  accurately  learn  who  it  is  that  lies  before 
thee  [rt's  TTOT^  ivrw  6  irpoKdnevos]  and  who  He  is  that  gives  Himself, 
and  to  whom,  thou  wouldest  need  no  other  argument,  but  this  is  enough 
for  thee  to  use  all  diligence,  unless  thou  art  wholly  abandoned." 
(Horn.  XXVIII.  i,  in  I  Cor.)  I  have  appended  to  this  chapter  S. 
Chrysostom's  excellent  observations  on  the  custom  of  communicating 
at  festivals.  His  words  are  as  necessary  for  English  Churchmen  in 
the  nineteenth  century  as  for  Antiochenes  in  the  fourth. 

M 


1  62          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

learn  from  the  context  the  nature  of  such  unworthy 
eating  and  drinking,  and  S.  Paul  states  it  plainly  in  the 
next  verse.  It  is  the  undiscerning,  undiscriminating 
reception  of  the  Sacrament,  the  reception  which 
makes  no  difference  between  those  hallowed  Ele 
ments  and  common  food,  which  sees  nothing 
more  in  them  than  the  lowly  creatures  of  bread 
and  wine  they  are,  and  continue  to  be,  which  has 
no  reverence  because  it  has  no  faith.  "For  he  that 
eateth  and  drinketh  eateth  and  drinketh  judgment 
unto  himself,  if  he  discern  not  the  Body."*  This 
blindness  to  the  spiritual  dignity  attaching  to  the 
Sacrament  was,  in  essence,  the  very  fault  of  the  Jews, 
who  murdered  the  Prince  of  Life.  They  were  so 
gross  of  understanding,  so  carnal-minded,  that  when 
the  Spiritual  King  stood  before  them  they  could  —  in 
the  phrase  of  the  prophet  —  see  no  comeliness  in  him  to 
move  their  desire.  So  we  can  recognize  the  real 
identity  of  disposition  between  those  who  despise 
Christ  present  in  the  Sacrament,  and  those  who 
despised  Him  before  the  tribunal  of  Pilate.  Both 
were  in  the  awful  language  of  S.  Paul,  "guilty  of 
the  Body  and  the  Blood  of  the  Lord?\ 


6  yap  (ffdlwv  Kal  irlvuv  Kpl/ja  eai'ry  foOlet  Kal  irtvei  /J.TJ 


t  It  is  indeed  far  from  my  intention  to  suggest  that  a  devout  and 
edifying  reception  of  the  Holy  Communion  must  involve  the  acceptance 
of  a  specific  theory  of  the  Mode  of  Christ's  Presence  in  the  Sacrament. 
I  hold  firmly  that  the  precise  contrary  is  true.  But,  apart  from  such 
specific  theories,  the  disciple  cannot  escape  from  (i)  Christ's  clear  com 
mandment  ;  (2)  His  emphatic  teaching  in  S.  John  vi.,  xiii.,  xvi.,  which, 
whatever  other  reference  it  may  possess,  cannot  be  supposed  to  have 
no  reference  to  the  Sacrament  ;  (3)  The  positive  law  and  unbroken 
tradition  of  the  Christian  Society.  Under  all  the  circumstances  — 


THE   HOLY  COMMUNION  163 

The  Apostle's  language  in  this  Epistle  compels  us 
to  give  a  directly  Sacramental  application  to  S.  John's 
record  of  our  Lord's  great  discourse  at  Capernaum ; 
and  we  are  thus  permitted  to  borrow  from  the 
Evangelist  the  "catalogue  of  those  spiritual 
privileges  "  belonging  to  Holy  Communion,  to  which 
S.  Paul  but  indirectly  refers.  "It  contains,"  says 
Waterland,  "  i.  A  title  to  a  happy  resurrection;  for 
such  as  spiritually  feed  on  Christ,  Christ  will  '  raise 
up  at  the  last  day'  2.  A  title  to  eternal  life ;  for  our 
Lord  expressly  says,  '  Whoso  eateth  My  Flesh,  and 
drinketh  My  Blood,  hath  eternal  life!  3.  A  mystical 
union  with  Christ  in  His  Whole  Person ;  or,  more 
particularly,  a  presential  union  with  Him  in  His 
Divine  Nature.  'He  that  eateth  My  flesh,  etc.,  divelleth 
in  Me,  and  I  in  him'  4.  In  these  are  implied 
(though  not  directly  expressed  by  our  Lord  in  that 
discourse)  remission  of  sins,  and  sanctification  of  the 
Holy  Spirit"* 

But  no  summary  can  do  justice  to  Christ's  teaching 
on  that  memorable  occasion.  Let  any  thoughtful  and 
unprejudiced  man  read  the  sixth  chapter  of  S.  John's 
Gospel  from  the  first  verse  to  the  last,  let  him  remem 
ber  that  the  primary,  though  not  exclusive  reference 
of  Christ's  words  was  to  the  Holy  Communion,  let 
him  read  the  language  of  S.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians, 

always  supposing  a  knowledge  of  the  facts — it  seems  impossible  to 
reconcile  a  contemptuous  attitude  towards  Holy  Communion  with 
any  real  conviction  of  Christ's  Lordship.  But  when  all  is  said  the 
human  heart  is  inscrutable,  and  while  we  may,  and,  I  think,  ought  to 
grasp  for  ourselves  the  solemn  significance  of  neglecting  or  despising 
the  Sacrament,  we  had  best  refrain  from  sentence  on  others. 
*,p.  192- 


1 64          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

and  on  the  authority  of  these  distinct  yet  comple 
mentary  testimonies  let  him  determine  the  Sacra 
mental  belief  of  the  Apostolic  Church.  He  will 
hardly  fail  to  conclude  that  the  first  disciples  held  a 
doctrine  of  the  Eucharist  which  in  point  of  loftiness 
and  solemnity  has  never  since  been  surpassed  in  the 
Church.*  " Now  ye  are  the  Body  of  Christ"  writes  S. 
Paul,  "  and  severally  members  thereof  "\  The  statement 
at  once  explains,  and  is  explained  by,  the  words 
already  quoted.  "  The  Bread  which  we  break,  is  it  not 
a  communion  of  t/ie  Body  of  Christ  ?  seeing  that  we, 
who  are  many,  are  one  bread,  one  body :  for  we  all 
partake  of  the  one  bread''  Plainly,  then,  the  Apostolic 
Church  considered  the  regular  receiving  of  Holy 
Communion  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  Church 
membership,  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  living 
connection  with  the  Source  of  all  Grace,  our  Lord 
Himself.  We  cannot  doubt  that  S.  Paul  would  have 
regarded  neglect  of  Holy  Communion  as  involving 
the  cutting  off  from  the  soul  of  the  Divine  Life, 
which  Christ  gives  in  the  Sacrament.  Christ's  own 
words  are  thus  explained,  words  spoken  at  the  very 
time  when  He  instituted  the  Holy  Eucharist.  "As 
the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide 
in  the  Vine  ;  so  neither  can  ye,  except  ye  abide  in  Me. 
I  am  the  Vine ;  ye  are  the  branches  ;  he  that  abideth 
in  Me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  beareth  much  fruit ;  for 
apart  from  Me  ye  can  do  nothing.  If  a  man  abide  not 
in  Me,  he  is  cast  forth  as  a  branch,  and  is  withered ; 
and  they  gather  them,  and  cast  them  into  the  fire,  and 

*  v/teis  5^  6rre  crw/xa  XpicroO  KCU 
f  I  Cor.  xii.  27. 


THE   HOLY  COMMUNION  165 

they  are  burned"  *  Far  be  it  from  me  to  limit  the 
application  of  Christ's  words.  They  bear  profounder 
sense  than  attaches  to  any  one  application,  however 
true ;  but  I  cannot  see  my  way  to  doubt  that  they 
describe,  and  were  designed  to  describe,  the  relation 
into  which  Christ  enters  with  the  faithful  disciple 
in  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  and  the  most  solemn 
and  terrible  results  involved  in  the  interruption, 
through  deliberate  neglect  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
of  that  relation.  I  cannot  see  my  way  to  doubt  that 
the  regular  and  devout  receiving  of  Holy  Communion 
is  the  natural,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  only 
ordinary  mode  by  which  the  Christian  can  remain 
within  the  unity  of  Christ's  Mystical  Body. 

NOTE.— S.  Chrysostom,  Horn.  XXVIII.  i  in  i  Cor. 

After  some  preliminary  remarks  about  S.  Paul's  habit  of 
turning  aside  from  his  main  argument  in  order  to  follow  up 
some  side  issue,  he  continues : — "  Now  the  same  thing  he 
hath  also  done  here ;  in  that  having  once  found  occasion 
to  remind  them  of  the  Mysteries,  he  judged  it  necessary  to 
proceed  with  that  subject.  For  indeed  it  was  no  ordinary 
one.  Wherefore  also  he  discoursed  very  awfully  concerning 
it,  providing  for  that  which  is  the  sum  of  all  good  things, 
viz.,  their  approaching  those  Mysteries  with  a  pure  con 
science.  Whence  neither  was  he  content  with  the  things 
said  before  alone,  but  adds  these  also,  saying,  But  let  a  man 
examine  himself,  which  also  he  saith  in  the  second  Epistle  : 
prove  yourselves,  examine  yourselves ;  not  as  we  do  now> 
approaching  because  of  the  season  rather  than  from  any 
earnestness  of  mind.  For  we  do  not  consider  how  we  may 

*  S.  John  xv.  4-6. 


1 66          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

approach  prepared,  with  the  ills  that  were  within  us  purged 
out,  and  full  of  compunction,  but  how  we  may  come  at 
festivals^  and  whenever  all  do  so.  But  not  thus  did  Paul 
bid  us  come;  he  knoweth  only  one  season  of  access  and 
communion,  the  purity  of  a  man's  conscience.  Since  if 
even  that  kind  of  banquet  which  the  senses  take  cognizance 
of  cannot  be  partaken  of  by  us,  when  feverish  and  full  of 
bad  humours,  without  risk  of  perishing  ;  much  more  is 
it  unlawful  for  us  to  touch  this  Table  with  profane  lusts, 
which  are  more  grievous  than  fevers.  Now  when  I  say 
profane  lusts  I  mean  both  the  desires  of  the  body,  and 
of  money,  and  of  anger,  and  of  malice,  and,  in  a  word, 
all  thaf  are  profane.  And  it  becomes  him  that  approacheth, 
first,  to  empty  himself  of  all  these  things,  and  so  to  touch 
that  pure  sacrifice  [0wtas].  And  neither^  if  indolently 
disposed  and  reluctantly ',  ought  he  to  be  compelled  to  approach 
by  reason  of  the  festival ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  if  penitent 
and  prepared,  should  any  one  prevent  him  because  it  is  not  a 
festival.  For  a  festival  is  the  shewing  forth  of  good  works, 
and  reverence  of  soul,  and  exactness  of  conversation.  And 
if  thou  hast  these  things  thou  mayest  at  all  times  keep 
festival,  and  at  all  times  approach.  Wherefore  he  saith, 
But  let  each  man  examine  himself,  and  then  let  him 
approach.  And  he  bids  not  one  examine  another,  but  a 
man  himself,  making  the  tribunal  not  a  public  one,  and 
the  conviction  without  a  witness." 

The  last  sentence  is  of  special  interest  as  showing  how 
far  the  Church  of  the  fourth  century  stood  from  the  modern 
rule,  which  makes  confession  to  the  priest  the  necessary 
preliminary  to  reception  of  the  Sacrament.  It  is  very 
unfortunate  that  the  great  Church  Festivals  synchronize 
with  the  popular  holidays.  The  special  temptations  of 
a  "Bank  Holiday"  prove  too  much  for  the  fragile  virtue 
of  many  communicants.  The  most  miserable  days  in  the 


THE   HOLY   COMMUNION  167 

year  for  the  priest  of  a  large  parish  are  Boxing  Day,  Easter 
Monday,  and  Whit-Monday.  The  zeal  for  religious 
statistics  operates  as  a  strong  pressure  on  careless  Christians 
to  communicate  on  the  Festivals,  and  thus  directly  ministers 
to  deplorable  profanation. 

THE    AGAPE 

It  may  fairly  be  doubted  whether,  in  the  Apostolic  age, 
the  term  "  Agape  "  was  employed  to  describe  the  common 
meal  of  the  Ecclesia.  The  term  is  certainly  absent  from  the 
Pauline  Epistles,  and  from  the  Acts.  It  would  seem  barely 
possible  for  S.  Paul  to  write  the  famous  chapter,  i  Cor.  xiii., 
on  dydTn]  without  reference  to  the  technical  meaning  of  the 
word,  if  at  that  time  such  existed.  In  Jude  1 2  and  2  Peter 
ii.  13,  the  Agape  is  mentioned,  but  in  neither  case  is  the 
reading  undisputed.  In  both  cases — assuming  that  R.V. 
has  the  right  text — abuses  of  the  gravest  kind  are  denounced. 
"These  are  they  that  are  hidden  rocks  in  your  love-feasts 
when  they  feast  with  you,  shepherds  that  without  fear  feed 
themselves"*  "Men  that  count  it  pleasure  to  revel  in  the 
daytime,  spots  and  blemishes,  revelling  in  their  love-feasts 
while  they  feast  with  you''  t 

Evidently  the  Agape  was  used  as  an  instrument  for  self- 
indulgence  by  persons  in  authority,  "shepherds."  This 
marks  a  later  stage  of  Church  life  than  that  described  in 
the  Corinthian  Epistles,  and  is  naturally  connected  with 
the  curious  regulation  in  the  Didache,  which  requires  that 
the  Prophet  shall  not  partake  of  the  feast  which  he  orders. 
"  And  no  Prophet  that  orders  a  table  in  the  spirit  eats  of  it 
[himself]  unless  he  is  a  false  prophet."J 

The  history  of  the  Agape  may  be  conveniently  sum 
marized  as  follows  : — 

i.  In    Apostolic   and    in    sub-Apostolic    times    it   was 

*  Jude  12.  t  2  Peter  ii.  13.  %  xi.  9. 


1 68         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

united  with  the  Eucharist  proper,  to  which  it  formed  the 
normal  preliminary. 

2.  Under  pressure  of  persecution  it  was  generally  aban 
doned  as  provocative  to  the  authorities  of  the  Empire. 

3.  In  the  third  century  it  was  generally  separated  from 
the  Eucharistic  Celebration,  and  tended  to  become  either  a 
mere  entertainment,  or  a  distribution  of  provisions  to  the 
poor. 

4.  In  the  fourth  century  its  secular  character  was  indicated 
and   emphasized    by   exclusion   from    the   Churches.      It 
generally  connected  itself  with  the  rapidly  developing  cult 
of  the  martyrs. 

5.  It  quickly  became  disreputable,  was  discountenanced 
by  the  Church,  and  fell  into  desuetude. 

"  The  name,  indeed,  still  lingered  as  given  to  the  annual 
dedication  feasts  of  Churches  at  Rome  in  the  sixth  century, 
and  the  practice  left  traces  of  itself,  in  the  bread,  blest  as 
distinct  from  consecrated,  which  under  the  title  of  Eulogia 
was  distributed  in  Churches,  or  taken  from  them  to  absent 
members  of  the  congregation,  (2)  in  the  practice,  prohibited 
by  the  Apostolic  canons,  and  by  the  Council  in  Trullo,  of 
bringing  to  the  Altar  honey,  milk,  grapes,  poultry,  joints  of 
meat,  that  the  priest  might  bless  them  there  before  they 
were  eaten  at  a  common  table.  The  grapes  appear,  indeed, 
to  have  been  actually  distributed  with  the  ayia,  or  conse 
crated  elements,  while  the  joints  of  meat  are  mentioned  as 
a  special  enormity  of  the  Armenian  Church.  (3)  Traces  of 
the  Agape  are  to  be  found,  lastly,  in  the  practice  which 
prevailed  in  Egypt,  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Alexandria 
to  the  Thebaid  in  the  fifth  century,  of  meeting  on  the 
evening  of  Saturday  for  a  common  meal,  generally  full  and 
varied  in  its  materials,  after  which  those  who  were  present 
partook  of  the  '  mysteries.'  (Diet,  of  Christian  Antiquities, 
Art.  'Agapse,'  where  the  facts  are  put  together  and 


THE   HOLY  COMMUNION  169 

references  given.)  Among  the  attempts  to  restore  the 
system  of  primitive  Christianity  which  marked  the 
Methodist  movement  so  distinctly  and  honourably  must 
be  counted  the  revival  of  'Love-feasts.'  For  this  John 
Wesley  himself  was  responsible.  'In  order,'  he  says,  'to 
increase  in  them  a  grateful  sense  of  all  God's  mercies, 
I  desire  that,  one  evening  in  a  quarter,  all  the  men 
in  band ;  on  a  second,  all  the  women  would  meet ;  and 
on  a  third,  both  men  and  women  together,  that  we  might 
together  "  eat  bread,"  as  the  ancient  Christians  did,  "  with 
gladness  and  singleness  of  heart."  At  these  Love-feasts 
(so  we  termed  them,  retaining  the  name,  as  well  as  the 
thing,  which  was  in  use  from  the  beginning)  our  food  is 
only  a  little  plain  cake  and  water.  But  we  seldom  return 
from  them  without  being  fed,  not  only  with  "  the  meat 
which  perisheth,"  but  with  "  that  which  endureth  to  ever 
lasting  life."  Subsequently  the  Love-feasts  were  not  con 
fined  to  the  bands,  but  open  to  the  whole  Society.' " 

OVERTON,/.  Wesley,  p.  129. 


PART    IV. 
ORGANIZATION  AND  PRACTICE 


CHAPTER   I. 
THE    CHURCH 

THE  original  character  of  the  Corinthian  Church 
was  that  of  a  secession  from  the  Corinthian 
synagogue.  It  is,  indeed,  certain  that  as  a  general 
rule  the  Christian  religion  followed  the  Jewish 
Dispersion,  and  the  synagogue  was  the  forerunner 
of  the  Church.  This  fact  had  important  effect  on 
the  organization  of  the  new  community,  as  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  show  when  we  come  to  treat  of  the 
Christian  Ministry,  Discipline,  and  Worship.  Here 
we  must  attempt  a  double  task.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  have  to  form  some  idea  of  the  Apostolic  Church 
as  it  actually  was,  not  as  it  has  been  represented 
by  the  grateful  fancy  or  the  more  deliberate  purpose 
of  later  generations.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must 
learn  the  doctrine  about  the  Church  which  was  taught 
by  the  Apostles. 

That  Christianity  should  be  organized  in  a  society 
was  almost  inevitable.  Apart  altogether  from  theo 
logical  considerations,  this  result  might  have  arisen 
from  the  circumstances  amid  which  the  religion  of 
Christ  began  its  course  in  the  world.  It  has  been 
often  remarked  that  the  first  century  of  our  era  was 


174         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

marked  by  a  general  and  powerful  tendency  towards 
association. 

"  There  were  then,  as  now,"  writes  Dr.  Hatch, 
"associations  for  almost  innumerable  purposes  in 
almost  all  parts  of  the  empire.  There  were  trade 
guilds  and  dramatic  guilds ;  there  were  athletic  clubs 
and  burial  clubs,  and  dining  clubs ;  there  were  friendly 
societies,  and  literary  societies,  and  financial  societies; 
if  we  omit  those  special  products  of  our  own  time, 
natural  science  and  social  science,  there  was  scarcely 
an  object  for  which  men  combine  now  for  which 
they  did  not  combine  then."*  Thus  it  was  the  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world  for  the  converts  to 
Christianity  to  form  an  association.  They  had  the 
models  of  such  association  ready  to  hand  in  the 
familiar  institutions  of  society,  and  those  models 
were  closely  followed.  To  the  outside  observer  the 
Christian  communities  appeared  to  belong  to  the 
general  type  of  associations,  and,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  they  were  so  regarded  by  the  Roman  Govern 
ment  when  they  first  attracted  its  notice. 

The  basis  of  association  was  discipleship  to  Jesus 
Christ,  crucified  and  risen.  S.  Paul  has  made  it  very 
clear  that  in  his  preaching  the  central  element  was 
the  personal  Lord.  This  was  the  gospel,  that  Christ 
the  Messiah  had  come  in  fulfilment  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment  prophecy,  that  His  Death  on  the  Cross  had 
reconciled  man  to  God,  by  making  Atonement  for 
the  World's  sin,  that  He  was  reigning  at  the  Right 
Hand  of  God  in  the  Power  of  the  Resurrection,  that 
He  would  shortly  return  to  judge  the  world.  The 
*  HATCH,  B.  Lt  p.  26. 


THE   CHURCH  175 

Jews  were  arrested  by  the  proclamation  of  Christ 
as  the  Messiah.  The  Apostolic  preaching  consisted 
primarily  in  the  proof,  out  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  of  that  fundamental  position.  The  account 
in  the  Acts  of  the  proceedings  at  Thessalonica  is 
doubtless  representative.  "Paul,  as  his  custom  was, 
went  in  unto  them  [the  Jews],  and  for  three  sabbath 
days  reasoned  with  them  from  the  scriptures,  opening 
and  alleging,  that  it  behoved  the  Christ  to  suffer,  and  to 
rise  again  from  the  dead ;  and  that  this  Jesus,  Whom, 
said  he,  I  proclaim  unto  you,  is  the  Christ''  *  The 
Gentiles  rather  fastened  on  the  doctrines  of  Atone 
ment  and  Judgment  certain  and  near  at  hand.  We 
gather  from  the  Acts  that  S.  Paul  was  wont  to  dwell 
most  on  these  parts  of  his  message  when  he  found 
himself  face  to  face  with  Gentiles.  He  called  to 
repentance ;  he  announced  the  Judge.  He  attacked 
idolatry  and  the  foul  immorality  which  idolatry 
fostered,  and  even  necessitated.  His  appeal  was 
direct  to  the  conscience  of  his  hearers.  Take,  for 
example,  the  conclusion  of  his  sermon  at  Athens. 
"  The  times  of  ignorance,  therefore,  God  overlooked ;  but 
now  He  commandeth  men  that  they  should  all  every- 
where  repent :  inasmuch  as  He  hath  appointed  a  day 
in  the  which  He  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness 
by  the  Man  Whom  He  hath  ordained ;  whereof  He 
hath  given  assurance  unto  all  men,  in  that  He  hath 
raised  Him  from  the  dead"  t  The  well-known 
description  of  the  Apostle's  preaching  before  the 
governor  Felix  is  probably  true  of  his  general 
method.  "He  reasoned  of  righteousness  and  temper- 

*  Acts  xvii.  2.  t  Ibid.  xvii.  30,  31. 


176          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

ance,  and  the  judgment  to  come"  Where,  then,  the 
Jews  formed  the  majority  of  the  Church  the  prevail 
ing  temper  remained  intensely  Jewish.  Righteous 
ness  was  the  noble  heritage  of  Israel ;  discipleship 
did  not  involve  a  moral  transformation.  The  religious 
and  moral  system  in  which  the  Jews  had  grown  up 
received  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  Messiahship,  and  the 
Evangelic  tradition  of  His  Life  and  Teaching,  but 
the  addition  did  not  seem  to  necessitate  any  breach 
with  the  past.  But  where,  as  in  Corinth,  the  Church 
was  predominantly  Gentile  the  case  was  otherwise. 
Christ  the  Saviour,  Christ  the  Pattern,  Christ  the 
Grace-giver,  Christ  the  Judge — in  every  character  He 
faced  the  guilty  conscience.  He  demanded  the 
violent,  immediate,  and  complete  renunciation  of  the 
sinful  habits  of  life.  He  upheld  the  winning  Model 
of  the  New  Life ;  He  threatened  with  inexorable 
punishment  the  old  sins.  Discipleship  among  the 
Gentiles  was  emphatically  an  affair  of  the  con 
science.  It  involved  a  sharp  conversion,  which  cleft 
life  asunder,  repudiating  the  past,  transforming  the 
present.  The  converts  from  heathenism  were  literally 
*'  an  elect  race,"  a  "  holy  nation,"  *  called  out  from 
a  world,  perishing  in  its  rottenness,  into  the  new  life 
of  purity  and  love.  This  was  the  immense  signifi 
cance  of  their  Baptism,  which  formally  and  publicly 
marked  the  great  transition.  So  S.  Paul  addresses 
the  Corinthians  in  anxious  warning,  setting  in  contrast 

*  Dr.  Hort  reminds  us  that  the  common  explanation  of  the  famous 
word  Ecclesia,  as  meaning  the  "called-out "  people,  cannot  be  main 
tained.  The  idea  itself,  however,  is  thoroughly  true  and  apostolic. 
—  Vide  HORT,  Christian  Eccksia,  p.  5' 


THE   CHURCH  177 

their  past  iniquities  and  their  present  profession.  "Be 
not  deceived :  neither  fornicators,  nor  idolaters •,  nor 
adulterers,  nor  effeminate,  nor  abusers  of  themselves 
with  men,  nor  thieves,  nor  covetous,  nor  drunkards,  nor 
revilers,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God.  And  stich  were  some  of  you  :  but  ye  were  washed, 
but  ye  were  sanctified,  but  ye  were  justified  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  spirit  of  our  God"  * 
Thus  the  Church  was  a  society  organized  on  the 
basis  of  the  belief  in  Christ  as  Saviour,  Model,  Lord, 
Judge,  in  opposition  to  the  prevailing  wickedness  of 
society.  Its  missionary  method  was  a  frank,  straight 
appeal  to  the  Conscience.  Now  the  prevailing 
wickedness  of  the  Imperial  Society  of  that  age 
may  be  grouped  under  the  two  heads  of  uncleanness 
and  cruelty.  The  Church,  then,  was  an  association 
for  the  maintenance  of  purity  and  chanty.  This 
twofold  character  is  indicated  by  the  two  names 
commonly  used  to  describe  the  members  of  the 
Church.  They  are  "saints"  and  "brethren."  This 
twofold  character  expressed  itself  in  the  necessarily 
Catholic  basis  of  membership.  Discipleship  being 
an  affair  of  the  conscience  appealed  to  men  as  such, 
apart  altogether  from  all  conventional  distinctions. 
S.  Paul,  writing  to  the  Romans,  dwells  much  on  the 
universal  relevancy  of  the  Gospel  of  Redemption. 
The  Church  did,  indeed,  like  the  net  in  the  parable, 
gather  of  every  kind ;  yet  mostly,  as  perhaps  was 
natural,  she  draw  her  members  from  the  humbler 
ranks  of  society.  This  was  notably  the  case  at 
Corinth,  as  S.  Paul  reminded  the  Corinthians. 

*  i  Cor.  vi.  9. 

N 


i;8          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

"For  behold  your  calling,  brethren,  how  that  not 
many  wise  after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not 
many  noble,  are  called!'  *  Doubtless  many  were 
slaves.  The  Apostle  directly  addresses  himself  to 
such,  deprecating  the  not  unnatural  idea  that  disciple- 
ship  was  incompatible  with  their  servile  condition. 
"  Wast  thou  called  being  a  bondservant  ?  care  not  for 
it :  but  if  thou  canst  become  free,  use  it  rather.  For 
he  that  was  called  in  the  Lord,  being  a  bondservant,  is 
the  Lord* s  freedman :  likewise  he  that  was  called,  being 
free,  is  Christ's  bondservant.  Ye  were  bought  with 
a  price ;  become  not  bondservants  of  men.  Brethren, 
let  each  man,  wherein  he  was  called,  therein  abide  with 
God1.' t  M.  Re"nan  reminds  us  that  the  servile  class 
of  the  Roman  Empire  included  many  of  the  more 
intelligent  and  educated  people.  "The  servile  con 
dition,"  he  says,  "  included  persons  who  were  culti 
vated,  contented,  virtuous, well-informed,  well  brought- 
up.  The  highest  teachings  of  morality  came  from 
slaves  :  Epictetus  passed  in  servitude  a  great  part  of 
his  life.  The  Stoics,  the  sages  said,  as  S.  Paul  to  the 
slave — '  Remain  where  you  are  :  do  not  think  of 
enfranchisement.'  We  must  not  judge  the  popular 
classes  in  the  Greek  towns  by  our  populations — 
sullen,  brutal,  coarse,  incapable  of  understanding. 
That  element  of  fineness,  delicacy,  polish,  which  we 
perceive  in  the  relations  of  the  first  Christians  is  the 
tradition  of  Greek  refinement.  The  humble  artisans 
of  Ephesus,  whom  S.  Paul  salutes  with  so  much 
cordiality,  were  certainly  sweet  persons,  of  touching 
probity,  set  off  by  excellent  manners  and  by  that 

*   i  Cor.  i.  26.  f  Ibid.  vii.  21-24. 


THE   CHURCH  179 

peculiar  charm  which  there  is  in  the  courtesy  of 
simple  folks.  Their  serenity  of  mind,  their  content, 
were  a  perpetual  sermon.  '  See  how  they  love  one 
another,'  was  the  remark  of  the  heathen,  astonished 
by  this  innocent  and  tranquil  aspect,  by  this  profound 
and  attractive  cheerfulness.  Next  to  the  preaching  of 
Jesus  this  is  the  Divine  Achievement  of  Christianity : 
this  is  its  second  miracle — a  miracle,  verily  drawn 
from  the  living  forces  of  humanity,  and  all  that  is 
best  and  holiest  in  humanity."*  We  may  allow 
something  for  the  characteristic  style  of  the  eloquent 
Frenchman,  and  something  for  his  standpoint,  but 
surely  he  does  not  overstate  the  fact.  Perhaps  our 
first  impression  as  we  read  these  Corinthian  Epistles 
is  one  of  disappointment.  Those  bitter  partisan 
rivalries,  that  terrible  profligacy,  that  discreditable 
anarchy,  that  frightful  misconduct  at  the  holiest  time, 
at  once  amaze  and  repel  us.  We  expected  better 
things  of  the  Church  which  listened  to  the  living 
voices  of  the  Apostles,  in  which  the  memory  of  the 
Son  of  God  was  yet  recent  In  our  disappointment 
we  may  readily  be  unjust  to  these  first  believers, 
unjust  to  Christianity.  We  have  before  us  the 
picture  of  the  Church's  scandals ;  but  we  forget  the 
state  of  society  amid  which  the  Church  existed. 
Think  what  it  meant  for  Corinth,  for  the  world,  that 
in  an  age  which  delighted  in  the  brutal  butcheries 
of  the  Amphitheatre,  in  a  place  where  the  central 
shrine  of  the  popular  Religion  was  nothing  better 
than  a  vast  brothel,!  there  should  yet  exist  and 

*  R£NAN,  S.  Paul,  pp.  436,  437.     Paris,  1869. 

f  "  L'affluence  des  marins  attir.'s  par  ks  deux  ports  avail  fait  de 


1 8o          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

spread  a  society  of  which  the  purpose  was  the 
making  possible  for  men  the  life  of  brotherly  love 
and  personal  purity.  Read  the  thirteenth  chapter 
of  the  first  Corinthian  Letter,  that  sweet  Hymn  of 
Charity  which  stirs  within  us  infinite  yearnings  and 
tender  hopes,  and  think  what  it  meant  for  Corinth 
and  the  world,  that  in  the  foul,  cruel,  pagan  city 
companies  of  men  and  women  had  been  drawn 
together  into  a  fellowship  so  real,  so  divine,  that 
there  was  nothing  exaggerated  or  unreal  in  address 
ing  to  them  those  glowing  words.  When  the 
"hard,  pagan  world"  of  imperial  Rome  was  at 
the  height  of  its  blood-stained  magnificence,  is  it 
not  a  portent  indeed  that  in  "  upper  rooms,"  in 
the  cavernous  catacombs  of  the  dead,  in  the  waste 
places,  on  the  mountains,  human  ears  should  receive, 
and  human  lips  rehearse  such  words  as  these?  "Love 
suffer eth  long  and  is  kind ;  love  envieth  not ;  love 
vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave 
itself  unseemly,  seeketh  not  its  own,  is  not  provoked, 
taketh  not  account  of  evil,  rejoiceth  not  in  unrighteous 
ness,  but  rejoiceth  with  the  truth,  beareth  all  things, 
believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all 
things!'  This  at  least  may  be  said  for  the  Church 
of  the  first  days,  that  its  practice  was  not  wholly 
unworthy  of  such  words.  Can  as  much  be  said  for 
the  Church  of  any  later  age? 

We  said  that  the  Church  wore  the  aspect  of  those 

Corinthe  le  dernier  sanctuaire  du  culte  de  la  Venus  Pande*mos,  reste 
des  anciens  etablissements  ph^niciens.  Le  grand  temple  de  Venus 
avait  plus  de  mille  courtisanes  sacrees  :  la  ville  entiere  etait  comme  un 
vaste  mauvais  lieu,  ou  de  nombreux  etrangers,  des  marins  surtout, 
v6naient  follement  depenser  leurs  richesses." — Ibid.,  p.  214. 


THE   CHURCH  181 

associations,  which  were  the  most  conspicuous  feature 
of  the  social  life  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Its  purpose 
was,  indeed,  vastly  superior,  its  spirit  fraternal,  but 
its  general  organization  was  remarkably  similar.  It 
might  be  an  easy  matter  for  the  more  unspiritual 
Christians  to  think  of  the  Church  much  as  their 
heathen  neighbours  thought  about  it — it  was  just 
one  more  religious  association  in  Corinth.  S.  Paul 
intervenes  with  his  doctrine  of  the  Body  of  Christ. 
He  compels  the  Corinthians  to  regard  their  associa 
tion  as  not  only  superior  to  all  other  associations, 
but  as  a  thing  wholly  apart,  belonging  to  an  order 
of  its  own,  with  claims  and  graces  unparalleled 
elsewhere.  His  teachings  about  the  Church  are 
scattered  over  the  Epistles,  but  they  are  summed  up 
in  the  twelfth  chapter.  The  Apostle  begins  by 
tracing  every  genuine  profession  of  discipleship  to 
the  Holy  Spirit.  "  Wherefore  I  give  you  to  under 
stand,  that  no  man  speaking  in  the  Spirit  of  God 
saithy  Jesus  is  anathema ;  and  no  man  can  say,  Jesus 
is  Lord,  but  in  the  Holy  Spirit''  And  so  with  those 
"spiritual  gifts"  which  the  Corinthians  so  greatly 
admired,  and  so  extensively  abused,  their  Author 
was  the  Holy  Spirit.  From  this  fact  it  followed 
that  the  distribution  of  those  gifts  was  not  capri 
cious,  nor  yet  determined  by  individual  merit,  but 
expressed  the  purpose  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  was 
designed  to  serve  the  general  edification,  The 
Corinthians  were  treating  their  several  gifts  as 
private  possessions ;  S.  Paul  teaches  them  to  rather 
regard  them  as  Divine  trusts.  "  To  each  one  is  given 
the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  to  profit  withal"  The 


1 82          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

gifts  are  various,  indicating  by  their  variety  that 
none  are  sufficient  standing  alone,  but  all  are  de 
signed  to  assist  and  complement  one  another :  their 
value  lies  in  their  due  correlation,  their  virtue  de 
pends  on  their  co-exercise.  "All  these  worketh  the 
one  and  the  same  Spirit,  dividing  to  each  one  severally 
even  as  He  will"  In  fact,  Christians  are  not  so 
many  separate  individuals,  but  severally  members  of 
an  inspired  society.  S.  Paul  describes  the  Church 
under  the  metaphor  of  the  human  body.*  "  For  as 
the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many  members,  and  all  the 
members  of  the  body,  being  many,  are  one  body ;  so 
also  is  Christ.  For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all  baptized 
into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond 
or  free ;  and  were  all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit? 
"  Think,"  he  says,  "  what  is  involved  in  that  common 
gift  of  the  Spirit  in  Holy  Baptism.  You  stand  on 
a  basis  of  equality ;  and  yet  this  equality  co-exists 
with  an  almost  infinite  diversity  of  function.  You 
are  severally  placed  by  the  Divine  Architect  as 
'  living  stones '  in  His  Spiritual  temple.  You  depend 
on  one  another ;  you  cannot  dispense  with  one 
another ;  you  cannot  transfer  to  any  other  your  own 
function.  You  may  not  despise  one  another."  "  For 
the  body  is  not  one  member,  but  many.  If  the  foot 
shall  say,  Because  I  am  not  the  hand,  I  am  not  of  the 
body  ;  it  is  not  therefore  not  of  the  body.  And  if  the 
ear  shall  say,  Because  I  am  not  the  eye,  I  am  not  of 
the  body :  it  is  not  therefore  not  of  the  body.  If  the 

*  This  metaphor  was  not  original.  The  Stoics  especially  were  wont 
to  employ  it ;  but  nowhere  is  it  used  with  such  range  and  power  as  in 
this  Epistle. 


THE   CHURCH  183 

whole  body  were  an  eye,  where  were  the  hearing?  if 
the  whole  were  hearing,  where  were  the  smelling? 
But  now  hath  God  set  the  members  each  of  them  in 
the  body,  even  as  it  pleased  Him''  After  his  fashion 
the  Apostle  is  led  away  by  his  metaphor ;  he  draws 
out  fresh  lessons  for  the  rebuke  of  the  loveless 
anarchy  of  Corinth,  for  the  eternal  guidance  of  dis 
ciples.  "  It  is,  you  see,  absurd  to  draw  distinctions 
between  the  members,  calling  this  one  honourable 
and  that  one  uncomely.  All  are  necessary :  and  all 
are  so  closely  bound  together  that  their  fortunes  are 
the  same."  "And  whether  one  member  suffer eth,  all 
the  members  suffer  with  it ;  or  one  member  is  honoured, 
all  the  members  rejoice  with  it"  Then  comes  the 
direct  application  of  the  metaphor.  "  Now  ye  are  the 
body  of  Christ,  and  severally  members  thereof.  And 
God  hath  set  some  in  the  church,  first  apostles,  secondly 
prophets,  thirdly  teachers,  then  miracles,  then  gifts  of 
healings,  helps,  governments,  divers  kinds  of  tongues. 
Are  all  apostles?  are  all  prophets?  are  all  teachers? 
are  all  workers  of  miracles  ?  have  all  gifts  of  heal 
ings  ?  do  all  speak  with  tongues  ?  do  all  interpret  ? 
But  desire  earnestly  the  greater  gifts.  And  a  still 
more  excellent  way  shew  I  unto  you."  That  "  more 
excellent  way"  is  the  way  of  love,  which  forms  the 
subject  of  the  thirteenth  chapter. 

It  is  evident  that  S.  Paul's  notion  of  the  Church 
was  very  exalted.  Breach  of  unity  was  to  his  think 
ing  grievous  sin  :  it  contradicted  the  very  fundamental 
conditions  of  discipleship.  So  he  treated  the  divi 
sions  among  the  Corinthians  as  very  serious  matters. 
'  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  through  the  name  of  our 


1 84         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  all  speak  the  same  thing,  and 
that  there  be  no  divisions  among  you  ;  but  that  ye  be 
perfected  together  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the  same 
judgment"  The  Apostle  would  have  had  small 
patience  with  the  popular  modern  notion  that  every 
disciple  is  free  to  follow  his  own  private  choice  in 
the  matter  of  public  worship.  Such  individualism 
was,  in  the  judgment  of  S.  Paul,  "  sin  against  the 
brethren?  In  like  manner  the  conduct  of  every 
member  was  of  direct  interest  to  the  whole  Church. 
The  Corinthians  forgot  this  when  they  treated  with 
indulgence  that  incestuous  Christian,  whose  crime 
shocked  even  the  heathen.  "Know  ye  not  that  a 
little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump  ?  Purge  out  the 
old  leaven,  that  ye  may  be  a  new  lump,  even  as  ye  are 
leavened.  .  .  .  Put  away  the  wicked  man  from  among 
yourselves?  The  litigiousness  of  the  Corinthians 
was  so  particularly  blameworthy  because  it  argued 
contempt  for  the  "Body  of  Christ?  "Is  it  so" — 
demands  the  indignant  Apostle — "  that  there  cannot 
be  found  among  you  one  wise  man,  who  shall  be  able  to 
decide  between  his  brethren,  but  brother  goeth  to  law 
with  brother,  and  that  before  unbelievers  ?  "  It  is  the 
sacred  character  of  the  Christian  society  that  makes 
so  guilty  that  reckless  exercise  of  liberty  which  hurts 
the  consciences  of  the  weaker  brethren.  Liberty 
must  be  conditioned  by  expediency,  regulated  by 
charity,  if  it  is  not  to  degenerate  into  guilty  license. 
"All  things  are  lawful;  but  all  things  are  not  ex 
pedient.  All  things  are  lawful ;  but  all  things  edify 
not.  Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  each  his  neighbour's 
good?  The  same  considerations  must  determine  the 


THE  CHURCH  185 

relations  between  Corinthian  Christians  and  the  rest 
of  the  Church.  Large  as  is  the  liberty  of  the  local 
church,  it  may  not  be  so  extended  as  to  break  the 
unity  of  the  whole  Christian  fellowship.  "If  any 
man  seemeth  to  be  contentious^  we  have  no  such  custom^ 
neither  the  churches  of  God!'  "  God  is  not  a  God  of 
confusion^  but  of  peace ;  as  in  all  the  churches  of  the 
saints"  "  What  ?  was  it  from  you  that  the  word  of 
God  went  forth  ?  or  came  it  unto  you  alone  ? " 
Clearly  S.  Paul's  authority  cannot  be  pleaded  in 
justification  of  the  congregational  theory  of  the 
Church.*  He  represses  the  notion  of  such  inde 
pendence  with  a  peremptory  decisiveness  that  admits 
of  no  misunderstanding.  The  "  Body  of  Christ "  can 
never  be  narrowed  down  to  the  limits  of  a  congrega 
tion,  or  even,  we  may  add,  in  deference  to  later 
Christian  experience,  of  a  denomination.  It  must 
never  be  thought  of  as  anything  less  than  "  the 
whole  company  of  faithful  people  dispersed  through- 

*  It  seems  impossible  to  reconcile  the  Church  theory  of  the  Pauline 
Epistles  with  such  a  theory  as  the  following,  which  was  propounded 
in  1658  by  a  representative  body  of  independents  in  "  a  declaration  of 
the  faith  and  order  owned  and  practised  in  the  congregational  churches 
in  England":  —  "That  every  particular  society  of  visible  professors 
agreeing  to  walk  together  in  the  faith  and  order  of  the  gospel  is  a 
complete  church,  and  has  full  power  within  itself  to  elect  and  ordain 
all  church  officers,  to  exclude  all  offenders,  and  to  do  all  other  acts 
relating  to  the  edification  and  well-being  of  the  Church." 

"They  disallow  the  power  of  all  stated  synods,  presbyteries,  con 
vocations,  and  assemblies  of  divines,  over  particular  churches ;  but 
admit  that  in  cases  of  difficulty,  or  difference  relating  to  doctrine  or 
order,  churches  may  meet  together  by  their  messengers  in  synods  or 
councils,  to  consider  and  give  advice,  but  without  exercising  any  juris 
diction."  (NEAL's  History  of  Puritans ;  vol.  ii.  p.  692.  London,  1837.) 
These  declarations  reflect  very  plainly  the  influence  of  contemporary 
politics. 


1 86         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

out  the  whole  world."  Nor  did  S.  Paul  consider  this 
wide  fellowship  to  be  merely  matter  of  phrase  or 
sentiment.  He  insisted  that  the  fraternity  of  be 
lievers  must  express  itself  in  action.  During  the 
Famine  in  Palestine,  when  the  Jewish  Christians 
were  reduced  to  great  want,  he  exerted  himself  with 
much  energy  to  obtain  liberal  contributions  from  the 
members  of  the  Gentile  churches. 


CHAPTER   II. 
THE    MINISTRY 

SPAUL  was  in  exceptional  degree  the  victim  of 
•  calumny  and  misrepresentation.  His  character 
was  defamed ;  his  teaching  contradicted ;  his  Apos 
tolic  authority  questioned  ;  his  success  belittled ;  even 
his  physical  appearance  ridiculed.  It  is  astonishing 
what  bitter  malignity  he  provoked.  The  personal 
fortunes  of  the  Apostle  are  reflected  in  his  Epistles. 
We  can  detect  the  note  of  ceaseless  conflict  through 
out  them.  They  constantly  tend  to  become  apologies 
for  the  writer.  One  result  of  this  circumstance  is  to 
secure  for  the  Christian  ministry  a  very  large  place 
in  the  Pauline  Epistles.  The  Apostle,  driven  by  his 
opponents  to  justify  his  actions  and  the  large 
authority  he  claimed  over  the  churches  he  had 
planted,  is  led  to  write  at  length  of  the  Apos 
tolic  Office  in  particular  and  of  the  ministerial 
office  in  general.  In  the  last  years  of  his  life 
he  was  forced,  by  the  rude  pressure  of  persecu 
tion,  to  consider  the  contingency  of  his  own 
withdrawal  from  the  government  of  the  churches. 
He  was  thus  led  to  write  the  three  Pastoral  Epistles, 
in  which  he  directly  and  formally  treats  of  the 

187 


i88          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

pastoral   office.      Indeed,  those   Epistles   might   not 
inaptly  be  called  the  Apostle's  Manual  for  Bishops. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  Apostolic  age  the 
Christian  ministry  was  still  largely  undeveloped. 
It  was  latent  in  the  Apostolate.  Ecclesiastical  terms 
were  not  definitely  fixed ;  they  reflected,  in  the 
looseness  of  their  application,  the  bewilderment  of 
the  time.  The  Church  was  taking  shape.  In  the 
process  many  factors  were  operative ;  but  the 
supreme  principle  which  governed  their  operation 
was  that  which  was  enshrined  in  the  name  "Apostle," 
and  which  the  Apostolic  ministry  most  conspicuously 
asserted — the  principle  of  Divine  Mission.*  For  the 
rest,  the  actual  form  which  the  Christian  ministry 
ultimately  assumed  was  very  obviously  determined 
by  secular  conditions.  The  names,  presbyter,  epis- 
kopos  or  bishop,  deacon,  were  familiar  in  current 
experience.  The  infant  Church  naturally  modelled 
itself  on  the  organization  out  of  which,  in  a  sense, 
it  grew — the  synagogue,  or  the  Greek  Club.  It 
adopted  for  its  own  purposes  the  institutions  and 
the  very  names  of  Judaism  or  paganism ;  but  it 
brought  everything  under  the  control  of  the  supreme 
Apostolic  idea.  Here,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  the 
mistake  of  those  industrious  and  learned  students 

•  S.  Paul  assumes  that  the  Christian  preacher  stands  in  the  position 
of  the  prophet  of  Hebrew  History ;  mission  is  essential  to  the  prophetic 
character.  So  in  Romans  x.  14,  15  the  Apostle  writes,  "How  shall 
they  hear  without  a  preacher?  and  how  shall  they  preach  except  they  be 
sent?"  A  generation  after  S.  Paul  the  Church  believed  that  the 
"sending"  of  the  Apostolic  ministry  was  solemnly  effected  by  the 
Risen  Christ  on  Easter  Evening.  (See  S.  John  xx.  21-23.)  Most 
Christians  will  need  no  better  assurance  of  this  fact  of  Divine  Mission 
than  the  record  of  the  fourth  Gospel. 


THE   MINISTRY  189 

who  endeavour  to  provide  a  merely  Jewish  or  merely 
heathen  origin  for  the  Christian  ministry.  They 
are  very  successful  in  showing  the  reproduction 
within  the  Christian  Church  of  the  established 
institutions  and  officials  of  the  older  systems,  but 
they  forget  the  dominant  doctrine  which  determined 
the  character  of  the  ministry — the  doctrine  of  a 
Divine  Mission. 

In  the  Corinthian  Epistles  we  observe  S.  Paul 
directly  dealing  with  a  disposition  on  the  one  hand 
to  magnify  the  power  of  religious  teachers ;  on  the 
other  hand,  to  degrade  their  character.  The  Cor 
inthians  were  inclined  to  constitute  the  Apostles 
their  masters  in  the  sense  of  the  sophist  schools. 
They  would  transform  the  Church  into  the  Academy, 
discipleship  into  philosophy,  Apostles  into  the  leaders 
of  philosophy:  but  so  doing  they  would  give  Apos 
tolic  authority  no  better  basis  than  the  Apostle's 
ability,  no  longer  existence  than  the  Apostle's 
popularity.  Their  view  of  the  ministry  was  frankly 
carnal,  "  of  the  earth,  earthy " :  it  left  no  place  any 
where  for  a  Divine  Commission,  You  remember 
how  S.  Paul  deals  with  it : — 

"  When  one  saith,  I  am  of  Paul ;  and  another  I  am 
of  Apollos ;  are  ye  not  men  ?  What  then  is  Apollos  ? 
and  what  is  Paul?  Ministers  [StaKovoi]  through  whom 
ye  believed :  and  each  as  the  Lord  gave  to  him.  I 
planted,  Apollos  watered:  but  God  gave  the  increase.  So 
then  neither  is  he  that  planteth  anything,  neither  is  he 
that  watereth  ;  but  God  that  giveth  the  increase.  Now 
he  that  planteth  and  he  that  watereth  are  one  \zv  cicriv]: 
but  each  shall  receive  his  own  reward  according  to  his 


190         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

own  labour.  For  we  are  Gods  fellow-workers,  ye 
are  God's  husbandry,  God's  building."*  It  would  be 
difficult  to  repudiate  more  absolutely  the  Corinthian 
partisan  conception  of  the  Christian  ministry ;  but 
the  Apostle  proceeds  to  develop  the  true  doctrine. 
If  the  essential  element  of  the  ministerial  character 
be  indeed  a  Divine  Commission,  then  obviously 
serious  consequences  must  follow ;  the  Christian 
minister  is  at  once  weighed  with  an  awful  responsi 
bility,  and  strengthened  by  a  sublime  independence. 
"Let  a  man  so  account  of  us,  as  of  ministers  \y-irr]  per  a<s\ 
of  Christ,  and  stewards  [OIKOVOJULOV?]  of  the  mysteries 
of  God.  Here,  moreover,  it  is  required  in  stewards, 
that  a  man  be  found  faithful.  But  with  me  it  is 
a  very  small  thing  that  I  should  be  judged  of  you, 
or  of  man 's  judgment  [rj  VTTO  avOptoTriKw  ij/xepa?]  ;  yea, 
I  judge  not  mine  own  self.  For  I  know  nothing 
against  myself :  yet  am  I  not  hereby  justified ;  but 
he  that  judgeth  me  is  the  Lord.  Wherefore  judge 
nothing  before  the  time  until  the  Lord  come,  who  will 
both  bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness  and 
make  manifest  the  counsels  of  the  hearts ;  and  then 
shall  each  man  have  his  praise  from  God"\  This 
language  is  strong,  almost  aggressive  in  its  egotism  : 
but  it  is  the  egotism  of  a  man  defending  himself 
against  unrighteous  attack.  S.  Paul  is  careful  to 
show  the  necessity  of  the  ministry  to  the  Church, 
and  he  separates  his  argument  from  his  own  person. 
He  describes  the  Church  as  a  living,  complex 
organism,  "the  Body  of  Christ" :  inspired  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  almost  infinitely  rich  in  variety  of 

*  I  Cor.  iii.  4-9.  f  Ibid.  iv.  1-5. 


THE    MINISTRY  191 

structure  and  function,  depending  for  its  health 
upon  the  harmonious  interaction  of  all  its  organs, 
every  one  fulfilling  its  own  separate  task,  and 
thereby  ministering  to  the  common  welfare.  Many 
disputations  are  raised  about  the  Church ;  there  are 
many  theories  in  the  air ;  and  those  theories  do  not 
agree  together.  I  know  no  clearer,  no  more  beautiful, 
and  no  more  authoritative  teaching  on  the  subject 
than  that  of  S.  Paul  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  the 
first  Corinthian  Epistle,  and  the  fourth  chapter  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  That  teaching  represents 
the  Christian  ministry  as  essential  to  the  Church:  the 
clergy  are  organs  of  the  Body,  and  as  such  indis 
pensable.  "  Now  ye  are  the  body  of  Christ,  and 
severally  members  thereof.  And  God  hath  set  [eflero] 
some  in  the  church,  first  apostles,  secondly  propJicts, 
thirdly  teachers,  then  miracles,  then  gifts  of  healings, 
helps,  governments,  divers  kinds  of  tongues.  Are  all 
apostles  ?  are  all  prophets  ?  are  all  teachers  ?  are  all 
workers  of  miracles  ?  have  all  gifts  of  healings  ?  do 
all  speak  with  tongues  ?  do  all  interpret  ?  " 

Here  we  find  not  only  the  assertion  of  the  Divine 
institution  of  the  Christian  ministry,  and  of  its 
necessity  to  the  Church,  but  also  the  statement  that 
the  ministry  as  constituted  by  God  is  various  in 
order  and  function.  The  parallel  passage  in  the 
Ephesian  Epistle  gives  a  slightly  different  list.  "And 
He  (i.e.  Christ)  gave  [eScoKev]  some  to  be  apostles ;  and 
some,  prophets ;  and  some,  evangelists;  and  some, 
pastors  and  teachers  ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints, 
unto  the  work  of  ministering,  unto  the  building  up  of 
the  body  of  Christ''  You  will  observe  that  in  neither 


192         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

list  do  we  find  the  famous  names  which  have  been 
permanent  in  the  Church,  "  bishops,  presbyters,  and 
deacons,"  We  know  that  all  these  terms  were 
current  in  the  Apostolic  Church.  The  Epistle  to 
the  Philippians  is  addressed  "to  all  the  saints  in 
Christ  Jesus  which  are  at  Philippi,  with  the  bishops 
and  deacons "  [cruv  eTnovcoVoi?  /cat  &a/co'vof  9].  The 
Pastoral  Epistles  make  frequent  mention  of  bishops 
and  deacons.  Nowhere,  however,  in  the  Pauline 
writings  are  the  presbyters  or  elders  mentioned,  a 
circumstance  the  more  perplexing  since  we  are 
assured  in  the  Book  of  the  Acts  that  the  Apostle 
was  accustomed  to  "  ordain  presbyters  in  every  city  "; 
and  in  the  Epistles  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  James  the 
"presbyters"  are  mentioned.  The  true  explanation 
probably  is  the  old  one,  that  in  the  earliest  times 
"presbyters"  or  elders  and  "episkopoi"  or  bishops 
were  alternative  names  for  the  same  officer,  the 
former  title  being  in  common  use  among  the  Jewish 
Christians,  the  latter  among  the  Gentile. 

I  have  already  observed  that  the  nomenclature  of 
the  Apostolic  Church  was  in  a  fluid  state ;  meanings 
had  not  been  finally  fixed  to  names.  We  must  here 
note  that  there  was  a  broad  distinction  between 
the  ministry  of  evangelisation  and  the  ministry  of 
pastoral  charge.  The  Apostolic  Church  was  mainly 
a  missionary  church ;  its  organization  was  deter 
mined  by  the  necessities  of  that  warfare  against 
paganism  to  which  it  owed  its  existence.  The 
Apostles  and  prophets  represent  the  missionary  stage 
of  the  history ;  but  so  soon  as  the  Church  had  been 
planted  in  any  place  the  need  for  a  pastoral  ministry 


THE    MINISTRY  193 

made  itself  felt.  The  bishops,  or  presbyters,  and  the 
deacons  represent  the  settled  stage  of  the  history. 
It  is  remarkable  that  the  Teaching  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles  describes  both  types  of  the  ministry ;  but 
it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  in  the  Church,  as  de 
scribed  by  that  little  treatise,  there  was  a  certain 
suspicion  attaching  to  the  "Apostles"  and  "prophets." 
The  Evangelistic  ministry  was  receding  into  the 
background,  and  the  settled  ministry  of  edification 
replacing  it.  There  are  rules  laid  down  for  the  due 
testing  of  the  wandering  Apostles  and  prophets,  and 
the  contingency  of  impostors  is  plainly  contemplated. 
"  Not  every  one  that  speaketh  in  the  spirit  is  a 
prophet,  but  only  if  he  have  the  behaviour  of  the 
Lord.  By  their  behaviour  then  shall  the  false 
prophet  and  the  prophet  be  known."  The  regular, 
fixed  ministry  is  still  reckoned  to  belong  to  an  in 
ferior  type,  but  it  is  evidently  growing  in  importance. 
"  Elect,  therefore,  for  yourselves  bishops  and  deacons 
worthy  of  the  Lord,  men  meek,  and  not  lovers  of 
money,  and  truthful,  and  approved,  for  they  too 
minister  to  you  the  ministry  of  the  prophets  and 
teachers.  Therefore  despise  them  not,  for  they  are 
those  that  are  honoured  of  you  with  the  prophets 
and  teachers." 

It  has  been  suggested,  and  the  suggestion  is  very 
probable  in  itself,  that  commonly  the  first  local 
ministers  were  the  first  converts.  They  would  be 
the  chief  organizers  of  the  Church  life  ;  they  would 
have  a  claim  on  the  gratitude  of  their  fellow-disciples. 

"  We  beseech  you,  brethren"  writes  S.  Paul  to  the 
Thessalonians,  "  to  know  them  that  labour  among  you, 
Q 


194          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

and  are  over  you  in  the  Lord  [rou?  KOTrtwvras  ei/  VJULIV  K. 
7rpoi'<TTa/ut.€vovs  v/uLwv  ev  /cu/D/o)],  and  admonish  you  ;  and 
to  esteem  them  exceeding  highly  in  love  for  their 
work's  sake"*  In  the  Corinthian  Epistle  we  have 
a  still  clearer  indication  of  this  personal  ministry 
based  on  service.  "Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren" 
writes  S.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  "  (ye  know  the 
house  of  Stephanas,  that  it  is  the  firstfruits  of 
Achaia,  and  that  they  have  set  themselves  to  minister 
unto  the  saints),  that  ye  also  be  in  subjection  unto 
such,  and  to  every  one  that  helpeth  in  the  work  and 
laboureth"  t 

"  According  to  this  there  were  a  number  of  people 
who  were  to  be  regarded  as  superintendents  in  the 
Church.  The  claim  was  based  on  their  having  been 
the  first  to  believe  and  on  their  maintaining  the 
Church  by  their  ministry.  The  Apostle's  exhorta 
tion  shows  accordingly  that  here  again  it  was  not 
a  question  of  an  office  that  had  been  instituted,  but 

*  I  Thess.  v.  12,  13. 

t  xvi.  15,  1 6.  7ra/xt/ca\u;  5e  17x015,  cl5e\0o{  (ofSare  rV  otKiav 
Sre^ava,  6Vi  ^crrtv  ctTrapx^  TTJS  'A^aias,  /cai  etj  dtaKovtav  rots  £71015 
era£aj'  eairroi/s),  iVa  /ecu  v/jLels  vTrora.ffO"t)ff6e  rot's  TOIOI/TOIS,  /cat  Travri 
r<j5  ffvvepyovvTt  Kal  KOTTI&VTI. 

"  These  words  suggest  that  Stephanas  was  a  wealthy  or  otherwise 
influential  Corinthian,  who  with  his  household  made  it  his  aim  to  use 
his  position  for  the  benefit  of  Christians  travelling  to  Corinth  from 
a  distance,  all  of  whom  in  Apostolic  language  were  saints  or  holy,  as 
all  alike  members  of  a  holy  community,  and  consecrated  to  a  holy  life. 
Services  like  these  rendered  by  a  man  of  social  eminence  made  it  good 
for  the  members  of  the  Corinthian  Ecclesia  to  look  up  to  him  as 
a  leader.  He  was,  in  fact,  affording  an  example  of  what  S.  Paul 
meant  by  6  Trpoi'<rTa./j.€vos,  in  Rom.  xii.  8."  (HoRT,  Christian  Ecclesia, 
p.  207.)  So  Godet,  "  Rien  n'indique  qu'il  s'agisse  ici  d'une  charge 
ecclesiasticjue  proprement  dite." 


THE   MINISTRY  195 

of  a  relationship  that  had  grown  out  of  facts,  a 
relationship  founded  constantly  on  voluntary  work, 
and  dependent  on  the  goodwill  of  the  community." 
This  is  very  true,  but,  with  the  Pauline  Epistles 
before  us,  it  seems  to  me  impossible  to  doubt  that 
the  local  ministers,  however  chosen  and  however 
called,  were  all  solemnly  ordained  to  their  ministry. 
Apart  from  such  Ordination  I  cannot  see  what  in 
telligible  meaning  can  be  attached  to  the  solemn 
language  continually  used  by  S.  Paul  when  speaking 
of  the  ministry.  The  most  natural  interpretation 
of  the  Apostle's  message  to  Archippus  understands 
it  as  referring  to  his  ordination.  "  Say  to  Archippus, 
Take  heed  to  the  ministry  [Sicucovlav]  which  thou 
hast  received  of  the  Lord,  that  thou  fulfil  it"*  The 
well-known  words  to  S.  Timothy  may  be  com 
pared,  in  which  S.  Paul  bids  him  "  stir  up  the  gift  of 
God,  which  is  in  thee  through  the  laying  on  of  my 
[S.  Paul's]  hands  ^  ;  and  the  very  solemn  charge 
to  the  presbyters  of  Ephesus.  "  Take  heed  unto 
yourselves,  and  to  'all  the  flock,  in  the  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  hath  made  yott  bishops,  to  feed  the  Church  of 
God,  which  He  purchased  with  His  own  blood"  \ 
There  is  a  passage  in  the  Epistle  of  S.  Clement 
of  Rome  which  may  well  be  quoted  here.  S. 
Clement  was  the  presiding  presbyter  of  Rome  at 
the  end  of  the  first  century  :  he  wrote  his  Epistle 

*  Col.  iv.  17. 

t  Acts  xx.  28.      Trpoo^ere  eairroty  /cat  Travrl  T£  Trot^ivty,  iv  $  u/xas 


•iji>  TreptTronfa-aro  5i4  TOU  a't'/iaros  TOU  Idlov.  S.  Paul  himself  had 
"  ordained  "  these  presbyters  :  it  is  evident  that  he  believed  intensely 
in  the  sacramental  efficacy  of  such  ordination. 


196          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

in  the  name  of  the  Roman  Church  to  the  Church 
of  the  Corinthians  about  the  year  95  :  the  Epistle 
is  therefore  well  within  the  Apostolic  period :  S.  John 
was  yet  living  when  it  was  written.  S.  Clement 
wrote  on  account  of  disorders  which  had  broken  out 
at  Corinth :  there  was  a  kind  of  revolt  against  the 
local  presbyters.  In  order  to  restore  peace  the 
writer  dwells  on  the  dignity  and  authority  of  the 
presbyter's  office,  and  he  gives  the  following  account 
of  the  origin  of  the  Christian  ministry : — 

"  The  Apostles  received  the  Gospel  for  us  from  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ :  Jesus  Christ  was  sent  forth  from 
God.  So  then  Christ  is  from  God,  and  the  Apostles 
are  from  Jesus  Christ  Both  therefore  came  of  the 
will  of  God  in  the  appointed  order.  Having,  there 
fore,  received  a  charge,  and  having  been  fully  assured 
through  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  confirmed  in  the  Word  of  God  with  full  assur 
ance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  went  forth  with  the 
glad  tidings  that  the  kingdom  of  God  should  come. 
So  preaching  everywhere  in  country  and  town,  they 
appointed  their  first-fruits  when  they  had  proved 
them  by  the  Spirit  to  be  bishops  and  deacons  unto 
them  that  should  believe."  (c.  42.)  .  .  .  "And  our 
Apostles  knew  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that 
there  would  be  strife  over  the  bishop's  office.  For 
this  cause,  therefore,  having  received  complete  fore 
knowledge,  they  appointed  the  aforesaid  persons, 
and  afterwards  they  provided  a  continuance,  that 
if  these  should  fall  asleep  other  approved  men 
should  succeed  to  their  ministration.  Those,  there 
fore,  who  were  appointed  by  them,  or  afterward  by 


THE   MINISTRY  197 

other  men  of  repute  with  the  consent  of  the  whole 
Church,  and  have  ministered  unblameably  to  the 
flock  of  Christ  in  lowliness  of  mind,  peacefully  and 
with  all  modesty,  and  for  a  long  time  have  borne 
a  good  report  with  all — these  men  we  consider  to  be 
unjustly  thrust  out  from  their  ministration."  (c.  44.) 
S.  Clement  bases  his  exhortation  to  the  disorderly 
Corinthians  on  the  Divine  Authority,  which  the 
presbyters  possessed  by  virtue  of  their  Ordination 
by  the  Apostles,  or  in  succession  from  them.  In  the 
same  way  S.  Paul  bases  the  right  of  the  ministry 
to  receive  maintenance  from  the  Church  on  the 
commandment  of  Christ  Himself.  "Even  so  did 
the  Lord  ordain  that  they  which  proclaim  the  gospel 
should  live  of  the  gospel?* 

The  ideal  which  S.  Paul  set  before  himself,  which 
in  his  writings  he  has  set  before  his  successors  in 
the  Christian  ministry,  is  indeed  a  noble  one.  "  We 
are  ambassadors  therefore  on  behalf  of  Christ  as  though 
God  iv ere  intr eating  by  us:  we  beseech  you  on  behalf 
of  Christ,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God"  \  He  felt  himself 
endowed  with  Divine  Authority,  strengthened  with 
Divine  grace.  This  faith  in  their  Commission  is  to 
be  to  the  Christian  ministers  of  every  age  their 

*  I  Cor.  ix.  14.  It  is  not  clear  whether  S.  Paul  is  quoting  an 
actual  "logion"  of  our  Lord,  or  summarising  shortly  His  teaching 
on  the  subject.  Probably  the  former.  The  Apostle  certainly  quoted 
a  saying  of  Christ,  not  in  the  Gospels,  in  Acts  xx.  35,  "  It  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive"  ;  and,  probably,  he  does  the  same  in 
I  Cor.  vii.  10,  n.  There  must  certainly  have  been  many  of  Christ's 
sayings  current  in  the  Apostolic  Church,  which  have  now  perished. 
Possibly  the  graves  of  Egypt  may  yet  yield  some  genuine  "  words  of 
Jesus." 

t    2  Cor.  v.  20. 


198          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

stay  in  troublous  times,  the  spring  of  their  courage, 
the  unfailing  sustenance  of  their  fortitude :  it  is  to 
react  upon  their  characters,  purging,  humbling,  en 
nobling  them :  it  is  to  win  a  way  for  their  message 
in  the  hearts  of  men,  bringing  God  near  to  them, 
and  opening  the  locked  Treasure-house  of  Eternity. 
"  Therefore  seeing  we  have  this  ministry,  even  as  we 
obtained  mercy,  we  faint  not :  but  we  have  renounced 
the  hidden  things  of  shame,  not  walking  in  craftiness, 
nor  handling  the  word  of  God  deceitfully :  but  by  the 
manifestation  of  the  truth  commending  ourselves  to 
every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God* 

Even  so  the  message  will  often  fail  to  win  accep 
tance  :  men  will  harden  their  hearts,  and  avert  their 
eyes.  What  shall  the  messenger  do?  It  is  the 
bitterest  of  all  experiences.  He  is  rent  by  a  thou 
sand  anxieties.  Why  that  failure  ?  "  His  blood  will 
I  require  at  thy  hand?  Was  it  his  own  blunder,  or 
dishonesty,  or  stumbling-block  of  sin  ?  Did  not  the 
Lord  pronounce  His  woe  on  him  who  caused  the 
least  of  His  simple  ones  to  stumble  ?  Let  him  take 
courage :  rejection  is  the  lot  of  the  holiest,  even  of 
the  Master.  "  But  and  if  our  gospel  is  veiled,  it  is 
veiled  in  them  that  are  perishing :  in  whom  the  god  of 
this  world  hath  blinded  the  minds  of  the  unbelieving, 
that  the  light  of  the  gospel  of  the  glory  of  Christ, 
Who  is  the  image  of  God,  should  not  dawn  upon 
them.  For  we  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ  Jesus 
as  Lord,  and  ourselves  as  your  servants  for  Jesus 
sake.\  Ah,  S.  Paul  would  say,  it  is  not  your  sacred 
character  that  men  will  resent :  it  is  your  self- 

*  2  Cor.  iii.  I,  2.  t  Ibid.  iii.  3-5. 


THE   MINISTRY  199 

assertion  :  your  Divine  Commission  will  only  wake 
resistance  when  you  make  it  the  occasion  of  vanity, 
and  the  servant  of  self-interest.  Live  humbly,  speak 
truly,  and  you  need  not  fear;  "*«  everything  commend 
ing  ourselves,  as  ministers  of  God,  in  much  patience, 
in  afflictions,  in  necessities,  in  distresses,  in  stripes,  in 
imprisonments,  in  tumults,  in  labours,  in  watchings,  in 
fastings ;  in  pureness,  in  knowledge,  in  long-suffering, 
in  kindness,  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  love  unfeigned,  in 
the  word  of  truth,  in  the  power  of  God ;  by  the 
armour  of  righteousness  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left,  by  glory  and  dishonour,  by  evil  report  and  good 
report ;  as  deceivers,  and  yet  true:  as  unknown,  and 
yet  well  known :  as  dying,  and  behold,  we  live ;  as 
chastened,  and  not  killed:  as  sorrowful,  yet  alway 
rejoicing :  as  poor,  yet  making  many  rich  ;  as  having 
nothing,  and  yet  possessing  all  things?* 

Such  is  the  Ministerial  Ideal :  how  it  mocks  selfish 
lives  and  feeble  faith.  Set  it  beside  the  ministry  of 
Christian  History,  of  contemporary  experience,  and 
how  eloquent  it  is  of  censure  and  shame.  "  Who  is 
sufficient  for  these  things  ?  "  Who,  indeed  ?  Yet  the 
Christian  ministers  of  later  ages  may  echo  the  words 
of  the  Apostle,  "Our  sufficiency  is  of  God" ;  and,  as 
we  look  back  across  the  ages  of  Christian  History, 
and  around  on  the  tumultuous  life  of  our  own  time, 
surely  we  find  abundant  authentication  of  the  words. 
Two  facts  about  the  Christian  ministry  stand  out 
with  luminous  clearness.  On  the  one  hand,  the 
incalculably  great  evils  which  flow  from  its  corrup 
tion  ;  on  the  other,  the  rare  moral  beauty  with  which 
it  has  enriched  discipleship.  The  necessity  of  the 

*  Ibid.  vi.  4-10. 


200         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

ministry  might  be  deduced  from  this  circumstance, 
that  apart  from  its  healthy  working  the  Church 
of  Christ  languishes,  or  perishes  altogether.  De 
spise  it  if  you  will :  heap  ridicule  upon  it :  deny  its 
claims :  dispute  its  value :  you  cannot  escape  from 
the  fact  that  upon  it  depends  the  well-being  of 
Christianity.  The  clergy  are,  and  always  have  been, 
the  unfailing  indicator  of  the  Church's  spiritual 
health.  What  the  clergy  are  that  the  Church  will 
become.  Alas !  that  the  failures  should  have  been  so 
many  :  the  scandals  so  gross  and  so  obdurate.  They 
who  bear  the  Lord's  Commission  may  well  bend 
their  heads  in  shame  and  confusion  of  face  as  they 
recall  the  iniquities  of  the  past,  and  the  treasons 
of  the  present.  Again  and  again,  by  their  pride, 
their  ambition,  their  rivalries,  their  corruptions,  they 
have  made  the  Lord's  people  to  transgress.  But 
there  has  been  another  side  to  the  record  of  the 
Christian  ministry.  The  Church  counts  among  the 
saints  and  martyrs  many,  very  many,  of  the 
Lord's  ambassadors :  saintly  priests,  learned  Divines, 
missionaries  burning  with  holy  zeal,  pastors  who  laid 
down  their  lives  for  their  flocks,  far-sighted  prelates, 
guiding  the  Church  in  difficult  times.  Nor  has  the 
great  succession  ceased.  Sometimes  from  scenes 
of  holy  toil,  without  recognition  and  without  reward, 
as  the  world  counts,  the  splendid  devotion  of  the 
Christian  Ministry  startles  the  world ;  and  some 
times  the  same  high  witness  is  yielded  from  seats 
of  power,  on  which  beats  the  fiercest  light  of  public 
scrutiny. 


CHAPTER   III. 
PUBLIC  WORSHIP 

IT  is  evident  to  the  most  superficial  student  of 
Christian  antiquity  that  the  earliest  and  most 
effectual  influence,  which  shaped  the  organization 
of  the  Church,  was  that  of  the  Jewish  synagogue. 
In  no  direction  is  the  effect  of  that  influence  more 
apparent  than  in  the  arrangements  for  public  worship 
in  the  Christian  assemblies.  "  It  would  hardly  be 
an  exaggeration  to  say,"  observes  Dean  Plumptre, 
"that  the  worship  of  the  Church  was  identical  with 
that  of  the  synagogue,  modified  (i)  by  the  new 
truths,  (2)  by  the  new  institution  of  the  supper  of  the 
Lord,  (3)  by  the  spiritual  Charismata."*  This  close 
modelling  of  the  Church  upon  the  synagogue  re 
sulted  from  the  actual  circumstances  under  which 
the  Church  came  into  existence.  The  Christian 
Church  was  literally  the  offspring  of  the  synagogue. 
In  Jerusalem,  and  perhaps  generally  throughout  the 
Jewish  congregations,  the  name  was  adopted.  S. 
James  speaks  in  his  Epistle  of  the  Christian  syna 
gogue.  We  may  suppose,  without  extravagance, 
that  in  many  cases  the  entire  Jewish  community 
accepted  the  Apostolic  message,  and  that  the  worship 

*  Dictionary  of  the  Bible^  art.  "  Synagogue." 
201 


202          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

of  the  Church  succeeded  without  breach  of  con 
tinuity  to  the  worship  of  the  synagogue.  The  same 
building  continued  to  serve  the  same  purposes  under 
the  new,  as  formerly  under  the  old  regime. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  in  order  to  understand 
the  conduct  of  public  worship  in  the  Apostolic 
Church,  we  ought  in  the  first  place  to  enquire  into 
the  arrangements  actually  in  existence  for  the 
service  of  the  synagogue.*  Those  arrangements 
are  sufficiently  well  known.  The  service  consisted 
of  fixed  forms  of  prayer,  of  psalms,  hymns,  dox- 
ologies,  lessons  from  the  Law  and  the  Prophets, 
preaching.  In  the  New  Testament  we  find  many 
references  to  the  synagogue  worship.  Thus  we  read 
of  Christ,  that  at  Nazareth  "He  entered,  as  His 
custom  was,  into  tlie  synagogue  on  the  sabbath  day, 
and  stood  up  to  read.  And  tJiere  was  delivered  unto 
Him  tJie  book  (or  roll)  of  the  prophet  Isaiah.\  After 
reading  a  passage,  perhaps  the  lesson  for  the  day,J 
"  He  closed  tlie  book  (ro!f)  and  gave  it  back .  to  the 
attendant  and  sat  down''  We  get  a  clear  view  of 
the  proceedings.  The  prayers  and  psalms  were 
ended.  The  first  lesson  from  the  Law  had  been 
read,  and  Christ  had  intervened  to  read  the  second 
lesson  from  the  Prophets,  and  to  give  the  customary 

*  A  full  and  interesting  account  of  the  Synagogue,  etc.,  and  its 
arrangements  may  be  found  in  EDERSHEIM,  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus 
the  Messiah,  vol.  i.  p.  430  fol. 

t  S.  Luke  iv.  16. 

J  "No  doubt  there  was  even  in  ancient  times  a  lectionary,  though 
certainly  not  that  presently  in  use,  which  occupies  exactly  a  year." 
"Certain  it  is  that  the  present  lectionary  from  the  prophets  did  not 
exist  in  early  times ;  nor  does  it  seem  unlikely  that  the  choice  of  the 
passage  was  left  to  the  reader  himself." — Ibid.  p.  443,  444. 


PUBLIC  WORSHIP  203 

exhortation.  In  the  Book  of  the  Acts  we  find  a 
similar  episode  in  the  history  of  S.  Paul  and  S. 
Barnabas.  At  Antioch,  in  Pisidia,  "  they  went  into 
the  synagogue  on  the  sabbath  day,  and  sat  down. 
And  after  the  reading  of  the  law  and  the  prophets  the 
rulers  of  the  synagogue  sent  unto  them,  saying. 
Brethren,  if  ye  have  any  word  of  exhortation  for  the 
people,  say  on."* 

If  we  turn  to  the  first  Corinthian  Epistle,  and  es 
pecially  to  the  fourteenth  chapter,  we  shall  find  evident 
correspondence  with  the  organization  of  the  syna 
gogue.  With  the  main  subject  of  that  chapter — the 
exercise  of  the  charismata — we  are  not  here  con 
cerned,  but  its  incidental  references  to  the  public 
worship  of  the  Corinthian  Church  must  be  carefully 
noted.  We  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
services  were  open  to  all.  Undoubtedly  the  Agapae 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  were  rigidly  guarded  against 
the  intrusion  of  strangers :  but  these  more  ordinary 
assemblies  were  intended  not  only  to  edify  the 
faithful,  but  also  to  impress  the  heathen.  S.  Paul 
speaks  of  the  "  men  unlearned  or  unbelieving''  Just 
as  the  Greeks  and  proselytes  attended  the  service 
of  the  synagogue,  so  did  the  general  multitude  have 
free  access  to  the  public  service  of  the  Church.  It  is 
worthy  our  notice  that  the  Apostle  insists  on  taking 
thought  for  the  impression  likely  to  be  made  upon 
these  non-Christian  visitors  by  the  proceedings  they 
witnessed.  The  Corinthians  were  greatly  disposed 
to  regard  with  supercilious  contempt  those  who  were 
less  instructed  or  more  scrupulous  than  themselves. 

*  Acts  xiii.  14,  15. 


204         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

S.  Paul's  profounder  insight  perceived  the  mischiefs 
which  would  inevitably  flow  from  that  uncharitable 
contempt  of  appearances,  which,  veiling  itself  under 
the  masque  of  liberty  or  devotion,  scandalized  the 
heathen  and  discredited  the  Church. 

Some  discussion  has  been  raised  as  to  the  precise 
meaning  to  be  attached  to  the  word  rendered  in  our 
Bibles  "unlearned"  (t&Wty?).  Does  it  merely  mean 
simple  people,  whose  ignorance  would  lay  them  open 
to  mistaken  ideas  of  what  they  saw  ?  or,  does  it  bear 
a  more  technical  meaning,  and  indicate  the  cate 
chumens,  who  had  not  yet  been  admitted  by  baptism 
into  the  full  membership  of  the  Church  ?  or,  does  it 
signify  ungifted  Christians  as  contrasted  with  those 
who  possessed  a  charisma  ?  or,  private  Christians  as 
against  those  who  held  office  in  the  Church?  The 
word  was  applied  by  the  Sanhedrists  to  the  Apostles, 
whose  courage  amazed  them.  "  When  they  beheld 
the  boldness  of  Peter  and  John,  and  had  perceived  that 
they  were  unlearned  and  ignorant  men  [aypdjUL^aroL  K. 
^orrat],  they  marvelled''*  Perhaps  it  is  not  neces 
sary  to  suppose  that  S.  Paul  intended  more  than 
a  general  meaning.  He  is  insisting  on  the  unedify- 
ing  character  of  that  unintelligible  devotion  "  in  a 
tongue"  by  which  the  Corinthians  set  great  store. 
Intelligibility,  he  argues,  is  the  first  condition  of 
edification.  "  Else,  if  thou  bless  with  the  spirit,  how 
shall  he  that  fillet h  the  place  of  the  unlearned  say  the 
Amen  at  thy  giving  of  thanks,  seeing  he  knoweth  not 
what  thou  sayest?  For  thou  verily  givest  thanks 
well,  but  the  other  is  not  edified"  The  use  of  "  the 
•  Acts  iv.  13. 


PUBLIC  WORSHIP  205 

Amen  "  was  directly  borrowed  from  the  synagogue. 
It  assumes  the  adoption  of  fixed  forms  of  prayer 
intelligibly  read.  *The  Rabbis  were  wont  to  de 
scribe  the  meaningless  Amen  of  the  worshipper,  who 
understood  not  the  prayer  to  which  he  thus  made 
response,  by  a  quaint  term.  They  styled  it  the 
"  Orphan  Amen,"  just  as  they  styled  a  psalm  to 
which  neither  the  name  of  the  author  nor  the 
occasion  of  its  composing  is  inscribed,  an  "  Orphan 
Psalm." 

The  expression  "  he  that  filleth  the  place  of  the 
unlearned"]  has  been  thought  by  some  to  indicate  an 
actual  allotment  of  space.  This  seems  improbable, 
yet  we  may  hardly  doubt  that  in  the  internal  arrange 
ment  of  the  place  of  meeting  the  Christians  followed 
the  model  of  the  synagogue.  In  both  at  the  upper 
end  would  be  the  ark  or  chest  containing  the  sacred 
rolls,  from  which  the  lessons  were  read,  and  later 
those  new  documents,  Epistles  and  Gospels,  which  in 
time  came  to  form  the  "  New  Testament."  Around 
this  ark  would  be  placed  the  "  chief  seats  "  which  the 
Rabbis  coveted,  and  which,  we  may  suppose,  were,  in 
the  Corinthian  Assembly,  occupied  by  the  "prophets" 
To  these  "good  places"  in  the  Christian  synagogue 
of  Jerusalem  the  "man  with  a  gold  ring,  in  fine 
clothing!'  was  respectfully  escorted,  while  the  "poor 
man  in  vile  clothing  "  was  left  to  stand,  or  given  the 
worst  seat  in  the  synagogue.  Perhaps  the  Jewish 

*    Vide  LIGHTFOOT,  Works,  xii.  p.  545.     London,  1823. 

f  6  dvairXypuv  rbv  rbirov  rov  Idiurov  irwr  fyet  r6  'A/t^  tiri  ry  <rrj 


[But  WEIZACKER  (ii.  p.  250)  seems  to  take  the  view  that  a  special 
place  is  indicated.] 


206         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

practice  of  placing  an  eight-branched  lamp  in  front 
of  the  Ark  may  have  been  adopted.  Lights  were 
certainly  the  earliest  Christian  symbols.  In  the 
centre  was  the  lectern  or  pulpit  on  a  raised  platform. 
Here  the  lessons  were  read,  and  teaching  given. 
The  sexes  were  divided,  "  men  on  one  side,  women 
on  the  other,  a  low  partition,  five  or  six  feet  high, 
running  between  them."  We  may  doubt  whether 
the  partition  existed  in  any  but  the  assemblies  of 
Jewish  Christians.  We  are  told  that  the  synagogues 
had  "alms-boxes  at  or  near  the  door,  after  the 
pattern  of  those  at  the  temple,  one  for  the  poor 
of  Jerusalem,  the  other  for  local  charities  ;  notice- 
boards,  on  which  were  written  the  names  of  offenders 
who  had  been  '  put  out  of  the  synagogue ' ;  a  chest 
for  trumpets  and  other  musical  instruments,  used  at 
the  New  Years,  Sabbaths,  and  other  festivals."*  All 
these  arrangements  were  probably  reproduced  with 
little  alteration  in  the  Church.  Certainly  the 
Christian  Church  would  not  be  behind  the  Jewish 
synagogue  in  its  care  for  the  poor,  in  its  zeal  for 
discipline,  in  its  use  of  musical  instruments  in  the 
service  of  God.  The  pipe,  the  harp,  and  the  trumpet 
are  mentioned  in  i  Corinthians  xiv.,  and  if  it  would 
be  excessive  to  build  anything  on  an  admittedly 
vague  and  incidental  reference,  yet  we  may  urge  that 
S.  Paul's  description  of  Christian  worship  in  the 
Ephesian  Epistle — "speaking  one  with  another  in 
psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  and 
making  melody  with  your  heart  to  the  Lord" — is  most 

*  Dictionary  of  Bible,  art.   "Synagogue."     See  also  EDERSHEIM, 
/.  c.t  p.  436. 


PUBLIC  WORSHIP  207 

naturally  understood  as  assuming  the  use  of  musical 
instruments. 

The  Jewish  practice  of  standing  at  prayer  with 
uplifted  or  outstretched  hands  was  adopted  by  the 
Church.  "/  desire  therefore  that  the  men  pray  in 
every  place,  lifting  up  holy  hands,  without  wrath 
and  disputing!'*  In  one  respect,  however,  S.  Paul 
distinctly  departed  from  the  model  of  the  synagogue, 
which,  as  a  rule,  he  so  closely  followed.  The  Jews 
were  accustomed  to  veil  themselves  in  token  of 
penitence  and  humility  when  they  stood  to  pray. 
This  practice  the  Apostle  condemned.  The  Greek 
custom  of  praying  with  uncovered  head  was  estab 
lished  as  the  rule  of  the  Church.  "Every  man 
praying  or  prophesying,  having  his  head  covered, 
dishonoureth  his  head.  But  every  woman  praying 
or  prophesying  with  her  head  unveiled  dishonoureth 
her  headr\  The  energy  with  which  S.  Paul  presses 
the  matter  seems  to  indicate  that  there  was  a  strong 
movement  among  the  Corinthians  to  adopt  the  practice 
he  condemns.  "Judge  ye  in  yourselves:  is  it  seemly 
that  a  woman  pray  unto  God  unveiled?  Doth  not 
even  nature  itself  teach  you,  that,  if  a  man  have  long 
hair,  it  is  a  dishonour  to  him  ?  But  if  a  woman  have 
long  hair  it  is  a  glory  to  her:  for  her  hair  is  given  her 
for  a  covering.  But  if  any  man  seemeth  to  be  conten 
tious  we  have  no  such  custom,  neither  the  churches  of 
God'.'  We  shall  have  to  consider  this  language  more 
carefully  when  we  treat  of  the  position  of  women  in 
the  Apostolic  Church. 

Undoubtedly  a  great  place  was  filled  in  the  public 

*  I  Timothy  ii.  8.  t  I  Cor.  xi.  4, 


208         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

worship  of  the  Christian  assembly  by  the  unpremedi 
tated  outpourings  of  gifted  individuals  ;  nevertheless, 
even  in  that  early  time  the  solid  framework  of  the 
service  was  carefully  prescribed  by  authority.  The 
Psalms  and  lessons  were  no  doubt  selected  on  some 
definite  plan,  either  that  of  the  synagogue  or  some 
other.  The  prayers  were  not  wholly  unregulated. 
S.  Paul  in  the  first  Pastoral  Epistle  insists  on  a 
certain  order  and  range  of  subjects.  "/  exhort, 
therefore,  first  of  all,  that  supplications,  prayers,  inter 
cessions ',  thanksgivings,  be  made  for  all  men;  for 
kings  and  all  that  are  in  high  place:  that  we  may 
lead  a  tranquil  and  quiet  life  in  all  godliness  and 
gravity"  * 

This  solid  framework  of  the  service  was,  perhaps, 
under  the  control  of  the  ordained  ministry.  That 
throughout  his  discussion  of  the  disorders  connected 
with  the  public  worship  of  the  Corinthian  Church 
S.  Paul  should  not  make  a  single  reference  to  the 
resident  officials  is,  indeed,  very  astonishing ;  it  must, 
however,  be  remembered  that  he  was  directly  con 
cerned  with  regulating  the  exercise  of  the  charismata, 
which  admittedly  lay  outside  the  authority  of  the 
ordained  ministry.  That  such  a  ministry  existed, 
and  was  charged  with  the  oversight  of  the  worship, 
cannot  be  regarded  as  an  extravagant  assumption 
in  view  of  the  general  character  of  the  Epistles, 
the  analogy  of  the  synagogue,  and  the  subsequent 
development  of  the  Church.  These  Corinthian 
Epistles  treat  at  great  length  of  the  status  and 
responsibility  of  the  ordained  ministry.  Moreover, 

*  I  Timothy  ii.  i,  2. 


PUBLIC  WORSHIP  209 

we  have  the  direct  testimony  of  the  Acts  that  it 
was  the  normal  Apostolic  practice  to  provide  for 
the  government  of  the  churches  they  founded  by 
ordaining  "presbyters?  S.  Paul  emphasized  the 
pastoral  character  of  the  episcopate  to  which  the 
Ephesian  presbyters  had  been  admitted.  "  To  feed 
the  Church  of  God"  would  seem  in  the  first  place 
to  carry  the  notion  of  teaching.  Apart  from 
rhapsodies  and  revelations  there  was  the  steady, 
continuous  necessity  of  instruction,  and  that  must 
have  been  the  specific  charge  of  the  official  ministry. 
In  reference  to  this  matter,  also,  the  precedent  of  the 
synagogue  was  most  influential.  A  fully  organized 
synagogue  had  its  college  of  elders  or  presbyters, 
and  its  official  executive — the  "  ruler  "  or  "  rulers,"  the 
collectors  of  the  alms,  the  minister,  whose  functions 
seem  to  have  much  resembled  those  of  a  modern 
verger.*  Assuming  that  the  Christian  synagogue 
was  similarly  organized,  the  normal  conduct  of 
public  worship  would  be  in  the  hands  of  such 
officials,  save  in  so  far  as  the  charismata  super 
seded  all  ordinary  system ;  and  when,  with  the 

*  Edersheim  enumerates  the  following  synagogue  officials : — 

(1)  "The  Chazzau,  or  minister,  who  often  acts  also  as  a  school 
master. 

(2)  "The  elders  (Zegenin),  or  rulers  (dpxovrej),  whose  chief  is  the 
Archisynagogos,  or  Rosh-ha-Keneseth.    These  are  the  rulers  (Paruasim), 
or  shepherds  (Tro^ves)-    These  formed  the  local  sanhedrim  or  tribunal. 
But  their  election  depended  on  the  choice  of  the  congregation. 

(3)  "  Officials  who  officiated  during  the  service,  the  Sheliach  Tsibbur, 
or  delegate  of  the  congregation— who,  as  its  mouthpiece,  conducted 
the  devotions— the  Interpreter  or  Methurgeman,  and  those  who  were 
called  on  to  read  in  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  or  else  to  preach." — 
Vide  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus,  i.  pp.  438,  439. 

Canon  Gore  ( The  Church  and  the  Ministry,  pp.  399-410)  has  a  learned 
P 


210          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

wider  extension  of  the  Church,  the  extraordinary 
phenomena  which  marked  its  beginning  became  of 
rarer  occurrence,  and  finally  ceased  altogether,  these 
officials,  i.e.,  the  ordained  clergy,  came  to  possess 
the  exclusive  control  which  has  ever  since  belonged 
to  them.  The  great  principles  which  S.  Paul  lays 
down  have  determined  the  development  of  the 
liturgical  worship,  which  everywhere  has  replaced 
the  more  spontaneous  service  of  the  early  days. 
"  Let  all  things  be  done  to  edifying?  "  Let  all  things 
be  done  decently  and  in  order?  The  sphere  of  Divine 
Worship  is  the  least  suited  of  all  spheres  for  the 
display  of  personal  preferences,  and  the  exaltation 
of  personal  importance.  The  less  experiment,  the 
less  novelty,  above  all,  the  less  excitement  the 
better.  Two  paramount  considerations,  always 
present,  should  chasten  individualism  and  prohibit 
irreverence — the  permanent  needs  of  the  human 
worshipper,  the  revealed  character  of  Almighty  God. 
There  are  permanent  spiritual  needs,  and  these  are 
not  always  as  carefully  provided  for  as  their  import 
ance  requires.  Fashions  in  public  worship  make 

and  interesting  note  on  "The  Origin  of  the  Titles  'Bishop,'  'Presbyter,' 
'  Deacon,' "  in  which  he  discusses  the  relation  between  the  synagogue 
officials  and  the  officials  of  the  Church.  He  concludes  "  that  the 
Christian  Church  borrowed  none  of  the  Jewish  titles  except  that  of 
'presbyter'"  .  .  .  "that  all  our  evidence  goes  to  show  that  the  Chris 
tian  Church  had  only  one  organization,  while  the  Jews  with  their 
temple,  schools,  synagogue,  and  sanhedrim,  had  four."  He  hardly  seems 
to  allow  enough  for  the  necessities  of  the  situation ;  but  with  certain  reser 
vations  I  do  not  dispute  his  conclusion.  ' '  All  the  functions  and  powers 
of  the  Church  were,  in  fact,  summed  up  at  first  in  the  apostles,  and 
were  gradually  imparted  under  their  authority  and  leading  to  different 
officers,  who  shared  the  same  ministry  in  distinct  grades."  The  whole 
note  should  be  read. 


PUBLIC  WORSHIP  211 

their  appearance  at  intervals,  and  seem  to  carry  all 
before  them.  Now  it  is  extempore  prayer,  now  it 
is  hymn  singing,  now  it  is  elaborate  music,  now  it 
is  ornate  ritual,  now  it  is  sensational  preaching. 
The  fickle  multitude  easily  deserts  the  familiar  but 
comparatively  uninteresting  system  of  the  Church, 
and  flocks  greedily  after  the  latest  thing  in  religion. 
Yet  our  needs  do  not  vary  with  our  preferences,  nor 
can  they  be  conformed  to  our  fashions ;  and  the 
Church,  whose  ancient  system  does  in  the  main 
represent  a  continuous  effort  to  match  human  need, 
secures  in  the  long  run  the  loyal  acceptance  of 
faithful  disciples.  Still  more  important  is  the  argu 
ment  which  the  Apostle  builds  on  the  known 
character  of  Him  whom  we  worship.  "  God  is  not 
a  God  of  confusion,  but  of  peace''  The  worship 
which  is  acceptable  to  Him  must  correspond  to 
His  character.  Above  all,  it  must  be  intelligent, 
and  devout,  and  orderly.  When  public  worship 
degenerates  into  mere  lifeless  formalism,  or  into 
mere  empty  convention,  or  into  a  wild  chaos  of 
unchecked  excitement,  how  gross  is  the  offence, 
how  scandalous  the  spectacle !  Yet  who  will  deny 
that  such  degeneration  is  both  facile  and  frequent? 
We  should  be  ever  vigilant  against  the  irreverence 
of  self-assertion.  Our  needs  and  God's  majesty 
must  be  the  restraints  of  our  frivolity,  and  the 
rebukes  of  our  pride.  The  counsels  of  the  Preacher 
of  Israel  may  well  be  in  our  minds  as  we  cross  the 
threshold  of  the  Lord's  House.  "  Keep  thy  foot  when 
thou  goest  to  the  house  of  God:  for  to  draw  nigh  to 
hear  is  better  than  to  give  the  sacrifice  of  fools:  for 


212          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

they  know  not  that  they  do  evil.  Be  not  rash  with  thy 
mouth,  and  let  not  thine  heart  be  hasty  before  God:  for 
God  is  in  heaven  and  thou  upon  earth:  therefore  let 
thy  words  be  few''  The  more  we  cultivate  the  true, 
sober,  restrained  temper  of  devotion,  the  more  dear 
to  us  will  become  the  ordered  worship  of  the  Church 
of  England.  There  is  a  modern  fashion  of  speaking 
contemptuously  about  Matins  and  Evensong,  as  if 
those  services  represented  the  very  antithesis  of  the 
worship  which  devout  souls  would  naturally  seek. 
Of  course  these  services  cannot  take  the  place,  and 
were  never  intended  to  take  the  place,  of  the  supreme 
action  of  Christian  Worship — the  Holy  Eucharist, 
from  which,  according  to  the  wholesome  discipline 
of  the  Apostolic  Church,  all  save  communicants 
were  excluded  ;  but  for  the  purpose  of  that  public 
worship,  which  is  the  ordinary  witness  to  the  outside 
world  of  Christian  truth,  which  is  to  secure  regular 
teaching,  and  to  provide  a  channel  for  the  general 
praise,  these  services  of  Matins  and  Evensong,  with 
their  fixed  elements  of  prayer,  psalms,  confession  of 
faith,  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  preaching,  do  seem 
to  approve  themselves  to  all  who  acknowledge  the 
authority  of  Apostolic  precedents,  and  have  regard 
to  the  standing  necessities  of  human  souls.* 

*  Bp.  Lightfoot's  dissertation  on  the  liturgical  ending  of  S.  Clement's 
Epistle  is  of  extreme  interest,  and  directly  bears  on  the  subject  here 
discussed.  It  must  suffice  to  quote  the  following  : — 

4 '  The  earliest  services  of  the  Christian  Church,  so  far  as  they  were 
grafted  on  the  worship  of  the  Jews,  would  be  indebted  to  the  synagogue 
rather  than  to  the  temple.  Recent  archaeological  discoveries,  more 
especially  in  Galilee  and  in  Eastern  Palestine,  have  enlarged  our  ideas 
on  this  subject.  The  number,  the  capacity,  and  even  (in  some  cases) 


PUBLIC  WORSHIP  213 

the  magnificence  of  the  synagogues  are  attested  by  their  ruins.  What 
we  find  at  such  Jewish  centres  as  Capernaum  would  certainly  not  be 
wanting  in  the  mighty  cities  of  the  world,  like  Alexandria  and  Rome. 
The  ritual  would  bear  some  proportion  to  the  buildings ;  and  thus  the 
early  Christian  congregations  would  find  in  their  Jewish  surroundings 
ample  precedent  for  any  ritual  development  which  for  some  generations 
they  could  desire  or  compass.  Again,  as  regards  the  substance  of  public 
worship,  they  would  naturally  build  upon  the  lines  traced  by  their 
Jewish  predecessors.  The  common  prayer,  the  lessons  from  the  law, 
the  lessons  from  the  prophets,  the  chanting  of  the  psalms  or  of  hymns, 
the  exposition  or  homily,  all  were  there  ready  for  adoption.  The 
eucharistic  Celebration — the  commemoration  of  and  participation  in  the 
Lord's  Passion — was  the  new  and  vivifying  principle,  the  centre  round 
which  these  adopted  elements  ranged  themselves,  being  modified  as 
the  circumstances  suggested.  The  earliest  account  of  the  Christian 
eucharist,  as  given  by  Justin  Martyr,  shows  that  this  is  no  merely 
conjectural  view  of  the  genesis  of  the  Christian  Celebration." 

Apostolic  Fathers,  part  I,  vol.  i.  pp.  392,  393. 


CHAPTER   IV. 
THE   GIFT   OF  TONGUES 

IN  the  appendix  to  S.  Mark's  Gospel  we  read  that 
before  His  ascension  our  Lord  foretold  to  His 
disciples  that  among  the  "  signs  "  which  should  follow 
upon  acceptance  of  the  Christian  message  should  be 
the  power  of  speaking  "  with  new  tongues"  (yAcocrcrcH? 
fcoui/a??).  On  the  Day  of  Pentecost  His  assurance  was 
justified  by  a  miraculous  gift  of  utterance,  which  the 
author  of  the  Book  of  Acts  believed  to  be  the  faculty 
of  speaking  divers  languages,  of  which  the  inspired 
speakers  had  previously  possessed  no  knowledge.* 
That  this  is  the  sacred  historian's  meaning  there 
can  be  no  question.  The  festival  crowd,  including 
representatives  of  many  nationalities,  are  said  to 
have  recognized  with  amazement  the  familiar  sounds 
of  their  respective  languages.  "  When  this  sound  was 
-  heard  the  multitude  came  together,  and  were  confounded, 
because  that  every  man  heard  them  speaking  in  his 
own  language"  (777  tdta  &aAe'/cTo>).t  If  these  passages 
exhausted  the  witness  of  the  New  Testament  on  the 
subject  there  would  be  little  room  for  discussion. 

*  Unfortunately  this  literal  and  —  as  I  hold — untenable  view  is 
embedded  in  our  Communion  Service.  The  Whit -Sunday  preface 
specifically  asserts  that  the  xa/)tcrAta  of  Pentecost  was  "the  gift  of 
divers  languages."  t  Acts  ii.  6. 

214 


THE  GIFT  OF  TONGUES  215 

We  should  be  encountered  by  a  prodigy  which  has 
no  parallel  in  human  experience,  and  which,  as  far 
as  we  know,  has  had  very  little  influence  on  human 
history.  In  the  Epistle  before  us,  however,  we  possess 
a  detailed  and  strictly  contemporary  account  of  an 
extraordinary  phenomenon  in  the  Corinthian  Church, 
which  all  are  agreed  to  identify  with  the  gift  of 
Pentecost,  and  which  certainly  was  not  the  power 
of  speaking  divers  languages,  whatever  else  it  may 
have  been.  It  is  important  to  remember  that  S. 
Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  is  earlier  in  point 
of  time  than  either  the  appendix  to  S.  Mark's 
Gospel  or  the  Book  of  the  Acts,  and  possesses, 
therefore,  a  superior  historical  value  within  its  own 
sphere.  The  section  of  the  Epistle,  which  includes 
the  xii.,  xiii.,  and  xiv.  chapters,  treats  of  the  spiritual 
gifts,  or  charismata,  the  undisciplined  exercise  of 
which  had  led  to  serious  confusion  and  even  scandal. 
Among  these  charismata  S.  Paul  mentions  "  divers 
kinds  of  tongues  "  (yeV//  yXwo-crtoi/),  and  a  supplemental 
gift  which  seems  connected  with  this  mysterious 
utterance,  "  the  interpretation  of  tongues "  (ep/zj/ye/a 
yXtoo-cran').  Having  set  forth  with  singular  force 
and  beauty  the  conception  of  the  Church  which 
underlay  his  view  of  the  charismata,  and  having 
exalted  in  a  passage  of  imperishable  charm  the 
supreme  virtue  of  love,  the  Apostle  in  the  fourteenth 
chapter  grapples  with  the  practical  question,  and 
proposes  certain  regulations  in  restraint  of  the 
Corinthian  abuses.  From  this  chapter  we  are  able 
to  gather  some  information  about  the  mysterious 
charisma,  which  we  are  here  considering.  Putting 


216         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

together  the  indications  before  us,  we  learn  that  the 
charisma  of  "  the  tongue  "  was  always  unintelligible  to 
the  hearers  unless  they  possessed  the  power — itself 
a  charisma — of  interpretation  (v.  2);  that,  therefore, 
its  value  as  an  element  in  the  public  worship  of  the 
Church  was  entirely  contingent  on  the  presence  of  an 
interpreter  (v.  5) ;  that,  though  generally  useless  for  the 
purpose  of  general  edification,  it  edified  the  speaker 
himself  (y.  4) :  however,  even  this  was  not  necessarily 
the  case,  for  the  speaker  might  himself  be  ignorant 
of  the  meaning  of  the  words  which  rushed  from  his 
lips  (v.  14);  that  this  gift,  both  as  unintelligible  and, 
probably,  as  accompanied  by  violent  physical  ex 
citement,  was  not  calculated  to  make  a  favourable 
impression  on  casual  observers,  who  might  easily 
mistake  it  for  insanity  (v.  23) ;  finally,  that  in  spite  of 
its  mysterious  and  even  violent  character,  it  was  not 
really  outside  the  control  of  the  individual  (vv.  27,  28). 
S.  Paul,  though  he  thus  takes  a  very  unfavourable 
view  of  the  practical  worth  of  the  charisma  in 
question,  did  most  certainly  hold  it  to  be  a  genuine 
and,  for  its  own  purposes,  a  precious  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  He  himself  was  richly  endowed.  "/  thank 
God,  I  speak  with  tongues  more  than  you  all:  howbeit 
in  the  church  [eV  €KK\^<TL(I  =  in  an  assembly]  /  had 
rather  speak  five  words  with  my  understanding,  that 
I  might  instruct  others  a!so,  than  ten  thousand  words 
in  a  tongue"*  Perhaps  we  may  recognize  in  S.  Paul's 
description  of  his  vision  an  analogous  experience 
to  that  here  referred  to.  The  abrupt  and  involved 
language  seems  to  suggest  the  awful  nature  of  the 

*  I  Cor.  xiv.  1 8,  19. 


THE  GIFT  OF  TONGUES  217 

ecstasy  it  attempts  to  describe.  "  /  know  a  man  in 
Christ,  fourteen  years  ago  (whether  in  the  body,  I 
know  not;  or  whether  out  of  the  body,  I  know  not; 
God  knowetJi],  such  a  one  caugJit  up  even  to  the  third 
heaven.  A  nd  I  know  such  a  man  (whether  in  the  body, 
or  apart  from  the  body,  I  know  not ;  God  knoweth), 
how  that  he  was  caught  up  into  Paradise,  and  heard 
unspeakable  words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to 
utter?*  This  unutterableness  of  the  Divine  com 
munication,  arising  from  the  sublime  character  of 
truths  "  too  deep  for  words,"  which  could  be  felt  but 
could  not  be  spoken,  is  mentioned  also  in  the  Roman 
Epistle,  where  the  Apostle  speaks  of  the  influence 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  Christian,  "  the  Spirit 
Himself  maketh  intercessions  for  us  with  groanings 
which  cannot  be  uttered"  \  So  in  I  Cor.  xiv.  2,  "  He 
that  speaketh  in  a  tongue  speaketh  not  unto  men,  but 
unto  God,  for  no  man  understandeth ;  but  in  the  spirit 
he  speaketh  mysteries" 

I  It  is,  I  think,  quite  evident  that  the  notion  of  a 

*  2  Cor.  xii.  2-4.  t  Rom.  viii.  26. 

%  Vide  E.  DE  PRESSENSE,  Le  Sihle  Apostolique,  ire  Periode,  p.  153 
fol.  His  decision  seems  the  only  reasonable  one.  "  La  tradition  a  pu 
subir  quelques  modifications."  He  points  out  that  the  languages-theory 
is  really  contradicted  by  the  New  Testament  itself.  "  Le  style  des 
ecrivains  sacres  nous  montre  clairement  qu'ils  ont  appris  la  langue 
grecque,  cars  ils  1'ecrivent  sans  correction  et  la  surchargent  de  locutions 
hebraiques." 

The  traditional  view  is  very  moderately  stated  by  Dean  PLUMPTRE 
in  the  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  art.  "Tongues,"  where  the  whole  subject  is 
fully  discussed.  The  whole  question  really  turns  on  the  authority 
assigned  to  Acts  ii.  If  the  actual  language  of  that  chapter  must  be 
maintained,  then  the  traditional  view  with  its  immense  difficulties 
follows  obviously ;  but  if  ordinary  rules  of  criticism  are  to  be  applied 
to  New  Testament  documents,  then  certainly  Acts  ii,  must  be  corrected 
by  I  Cor.  xiv.  J  ^o^jc  ^^  Lr:  C^cs  'j  4±±/^ 


2i8          APOSTOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

miraculous  knowledge  of  languages  must  be  rejected. 
The  narrative  of  the  Pentecostal  Outpouring  stands 
quite  by  itself,  and  is  not  compatible  with  the  rest  of 
the  evidence.  It  represents  a  developed  tradition 
of  the  history,  rather  than  the  history  itself.  The 
subsequent  references  to  the  gift  of  tongues  in  the 
Book  of  the  Acts  are  in  agreement  with  the  Pauline 
Epistles.  It  is  not  seriously  suggested  that  when 
Cornelius  and  his  friends  received  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  began  to  speak  with  tongues,  they  were  suddenly 
breaking  out  in  various  and  hitherto  unknown  lan 
guages.  It  is  particularly  worthy  of  notice  that 
S.  Peter,  in  relating  this  occurrence  to  the  Church 
in  Jerusalem,  expressly  identified  the  charisma  of 
Cornelius  with  that  of  Pentecost.  "As  I  began  to 
speak,  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  them,  even  as  on  us  at 
the  beginning"  *  Similarly  in  the  case  of  the  twelve 
disciples  of  S.  John  the  Baptist,  whom  S.  Paul  found 
at  Ephesus  and  whom  he  baptized.  No  one  supposes 
that  they  spoke  foreign  languages  when,  after  the 
laying  on  of  the  Apostle's  hands,  "the  Holy  Ghost 
came  on  them,  and  they  spake  with  tongues,  and  pro 
phesied''  t  Moreover,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  record 
in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Acts  is  hardly  com 
patible  with  the  assumption,  which  the  author  un 
doubtedly  makes,  that  the  "tongues"  were  divers 
languages.  The  observation  of  the  scoffers,  "  They 
are  filled  with  new  wine"  does  not  seem  very  relevant 
to  a  preaching,  of  which  the  chief  distinction  was 
that  it  was  expressed,  contrary  to  their  expectation, 
in  their  respective  mother  tongues.  S.  Peter's  defence 

*  Acts  xi.  1 5.  t  Ibid.  xix.  6. 


THE  GIFT  OF  TONGUES  219 

is  hardly  what  we  should  expect  if  the  phenomena 
which  he  had  to  justify  was  a  supernatural  knowledge 
of  foreign  languages.  The  prophecy  of  Joel,  which 
he  quotes,  has  no  reference  to  anything  at  once  so 
amazing  and  so  commonplace,  while  it  is  very  rele 
vant  indeed  to  such  manifestations  of  the  Divine 
Influence  as  those  which  were  common  among  the 
Corinthians.  If  a  knowledge  of  languages  was 
supernaturally  conveyed,  it  must  have  been  designed 
to  facilitate  the  missionary  labours  of  the  Church. 
Such,  indeed,  has  been  the  general  belief.  But  it  is 
impossible  to  produce  a  single  instance  that  any  such 
knowledge  was  either  possessed  or  used.  All  the 
evidence  points  in  the  opposite  direction.  The 
narrative  of  the  Apostolic  preaching  at  Lystra  clearly 
indicates  that  S.  Paul  and  S.  Barnabas  were  ignorant 
of  "the  speech  of  Lycaonia"  and  only  learnt  by 
degrees  the  idolatrous  intentions  of  the  people.* 
It  was  a  matter  of  astonishment  to  the  chief  captain 
that  S.  Paul  could  speak  Greek,  which  would  hardly 
have  been  the  case  if  the  knowledge  of  languages 
had  been  a  characteristic  of  the  Christians,  t 

The  scoffers  at  Jerusalem  derided  the  inspired 
disciples  as  "filled  with  new  wine'1  It  is  not  without 
significance  that  S.  Paul  himself  should  institute  a 
comparison  between  such  inspiration  and  drunken 
ness.  "And  be  not  drunken  with  wine,  wherein  is 
riot;'  he  writes  to  the  Ephesians,  "  but  be  filled  with 

*  Acts  xiv.  u,  13,  14.  The  exclamation  of  the  Lycaonians  was 
unintelligible  to  the  Apostles,  who  only  grasped  the  situation  when 
"  the  priest  of  Jupiter,  whose  temple  was  before  the  city,  brought  oxen 
and  garlands  unto  the  gates,  and  would  have  done  sacrifice  with  the 
multitudes."  f  Ibid.  xxi.  37. 


220         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  Spirit" *  M.  Godet  thus  describes  the  state  of 
the  Christian  under  the  influence  of  this  charisma : — 

"While  drawing  him  into  a  state  of  ecstasy  the 
Divine  Spirit  separates  him  for  the  moment  from 
his  understanding,  which  is  a  faculty  of  the  soul, 
or  rather  the  soul  herself  in  its  thinking  capacity. 
Thus  his  impressions  take  the  character  of  pure 
sentiment,  of  ineffable  emotion :  it  is  a  state  of 
spiritual  exhilaration,  of  which  drunkenness  is  as 
it  were  the  coarse  counterpart.  Such  a  state  was 
revealed  by  extraordinary  utterances,  consisting  of 
prayers,  praises,  or  thanksgivings,  and  expressing  the 
satisfaction  and  the  aspirations  of  the  saved  soul. 
Only  with  such  a  state  the  understanding  was  not 
associated.  It  was,  as  the  Apostle  says,  "  unfruitful" 

It  is  particularly  noteworthy  that  S.  Paul  does 
not  draw  the  inference  that  the  charisma  is  therefore 
valueless,  and  should  be  suppressed.  Rather  he 
insists  on  an  intelligent  and  responsible  exercise  of 
it.  "  What  is  it  then?  I  will  pray  with  the.  spirit, 
and  I  will  pray  with  the  understanding  also:  I  will 
sing  with  the  spirit,  and  I  ivill  sing  with  the 
understanding  also?  The  Apostle  seems  to  mention 
the  two  principal  manifestations  of  the  charisma 
in  question  —  prayer  and  singing.  We  naturally 
compare  the  familiar  language  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  "  Speaking  one  to  another  in  psalms  and 
hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  and  making 
melody  with  your  heart  to  the  Lord''  Joy  was, 
perhaps,  the  prevailing  temper  of  Apostolic  Chris 
tianity.  The  Gospel  meant  so  much  to  men  who 
*  Eph.  v.  1 8. 


THE  GIFT  OF  TONGUES  221 

had  groaned  under  the  rigid  despotism  of  the 
Rabbinic  system,  or  groped  despairingly  amid  the 
gross  errors  of  paganism.  "  Tidings  of  great  joy " 
was  the  announcement  of  the  herald  angel,  and 
every  page  of  the  New  Testament  reveals  the  fitness 
of  the  description.  Everywhere  the  acceptance  of 
Christianity  expressed  itself  in  a  wonderful  light- 
heartedness,  as  of  men  suddenly  set  free  from  some 
oppressive  anxiety.  So  the  converts  of  Pentecost 
"took  their  food  with  gladness  and  singleness  of 
heart,  praising  God";*  so,  on  the  morrow  of  their 
conversion,  "there  was  much  joy  in  the  city"\  of  the 
Samaritans  ;  so  at  Iconium  "  the  disciples  were  filled 
with  joy  and  with  the  Holy  Ghost"  \  Continually 
this  joy  of  discipleship  breaks  through  the  language 
of  the  Epistles.  Christians  in  those  first  days  were 
like  happy  children,  too  happy  to  put  into  intelligible 
words  their  feelings,  but  singing  and  humming,  and 
dancing  for  joy.  Now  the  charisma  of  the  tongue 
seems  to  me  the  organ  through  which  most  con 
spicuously  this  joy  of  discipleship  expressed  itself. 
That  joy  had  two  elements — the  blessed  sense  of 
peace  with  God,  reconciliation  with  the  Father  and 
the  full  heart  of  gratitude  for  the  Redemption  ;  and 
these  elements  were  represented  in  the  fellowship  of 
fervent  prayer,  and  in  the  ecstatic  pouring  forth  of 
improvised  hymns  of  thanksgiving.  The  violence 
of  the  phenomenon — inarticulate  cries,  loud  voice,  ex 
citement  which  almost  suggested  insanity  or  intoxi 
cation — only  reflected  the  greatness  of  the  spiritual 
crisis  through  which  men  were  passing.  We  may 

*  Acts  ii.  46,  47.  f  Ibid.  viii.  8.  £  Ibid.  xiii.  52. 


222         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

find  many  illustrations  in  the  history  of  later 
Christianity.  The  gift  of  tongues  itself  soon  dis 
appeared  from  the  normal  life  of  the  Church. 
S.  Irenaeus,  indeed,  in  the  second  century  relates 
that  in  his  day  there  were  brethren  "who  had 
prophetic  gifts,  and  spoke  through  the  Spirit  in  all 
kinds  of  tongues "  ;  but  his  evidence  stands  alone, 
for  the  prophetess  mentioned  by  Tertullian  was  a 
heretic.  S.  Chrysostom  begins  his  comments  on 
the  passage  in  the  Corinthian  Epistle,  which  treats  of 
spiritual  gifts,  with  these  words :  "  This  whole  place 
is  very  obscure ;  but  the  obscurity  is  produced  by 
our  ignorance  of  the  facts  referred  to,  and  by  their 
cessation,  being  such  as  then  used  to  occur,  but  now 
no  longer  take  place."  Neither  in  the  Pastoral,  nor 
in  the  General  Epistles,  nor  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  is  there  any  clear  reference  to  this  charisma. 
The  little  treatise  known  as  The  Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles  is  equally  silent,  a  fact  which  is  the 
more  significant  since  the  conditions  under  'which 
the  kindred  chansma  of  prophecy  should  be  exer 
cised  are  carefully  prescribed.  At  intervals,  however, 
generally  in  sects  or  communities  which  are  sub 
jected  to  circumstances  of  extreme  difficulty  and 
pressure,  there  have  appeared  phenomena  which  have 
a  close  resemblance  to  the  charisma  as  described  by 
S.  Paul.  "The  movement  of  the  mendicant  orders 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  the  prophesyings  of  the 
sixteenth  in  England,  the  early  history  of  the 
disciples  of  George  Fox,  that  of  the  Jansenists  in 
France,  the  Revivals  under  Wesley  and  Whitefield, 
those  of  a  later  date  in  Sweden,  America,  and 


THE  GIFT  OF  TONGUES  223 

Ireland,  have  in  like  manner  been  fruitful  in  ecstatic 
phenomena  more  or  less  closely  resembling  those 
which  we  are  now  discussing."  Still  closer  parallels 
were  presented  in  France  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century,  and  in  England  about  sixty  years  ago.* 
In  every  case,  however,  these  exhibitions  have  been 
too  definitely  connected  with  extravagances  of 
doctrine  to  permit  of  their  being  placed  on  a  level 
with  the  manifestation  which  in  the  first  Christian 


*  Dean  Stanley  has  an  interesting  and  elaborate  discussion  of  the 
' '  Gift  of  Tongues "  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Corinthian  Epistles, 
pp.  243—257.  lie  endeavours  with  more  ingenuity  than  success 
to  reconcile  the  phenomena  described  in  Acts  ii.  with  those  described 
in  I  Cor.  xiv.  His  suggestion  is  that  "as  even  in  common  life 
persons  in  a  highly  wrought  state  of  feeling  are  enabled  to  understand 
each  other,  though  not  speaking  the  same  language,  so  this  gift,  which 
above  all  others  lifted  the  speaker  out  of  himself,  might  have  the 
same  effect."  He  suggests  that  "  Hellenistic  Greek,  compounded  as  it 
was  of  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  and  instinct  with  that  peculiar  life 
and  energy  which  we  see  it  assume  in  the  various  styles  of  the  New 
Testament,  especially  in  S.  Paul  and  in  the  Apocalypse,  was  almost 
in  itself  a  '  speaking  '  in  divers  kinds  of  tongues."  "All  the  various 
elements  of  Aramaic  and  Hellenic  speech,  latent  in  the  usual 
language  of  the  time,  would  be  quickened  under  the  power  of  this  gift 
into  a  new  life,  sometimes  intelligible,  sometimes  unintelligible  to  those 
who  heard  it,  but  always  expressive  of  the  vitality  and  energy  of  the 
Spirit  by  which  it  was  animated."  He  gives  two  descriptions  of  the 
so-called  "gift  of  tongues"  in  the  followers  of  Mr.  Irving,  about 
1831-1833,  by  a  sympathetic  and  an  unsympathetic  eye-witness.  Dr. 
Arnold's  opinion  about  those  occurrences  is  expressed  in  a  letter  to 
Rev.  F.  C.  Blackstone.  (Stanley's  Life,  p.  241.)  "If  the  thing  be 
real  I  should  take  it  merely  as  a  sign  of  the  coming  of  the  day  of  the 
Lord — the  only  use,  as  far  as  I  can  make  out,  that  ever  was  derived 
from  the  gift  of  tongues.  I  do  not  see  that  it  was  ever  made  a  vehicle 
of  instruction,  or  ever  superseded  the  study  of  tongues,  but  that  it  was 
merely  a  sign  of  the  power  of  God,  a  man  being  for  the  time  trans 
formed  into  a  mere  instrument  to  utter  sounds  which  he  himself 
understood  not."  Also  Ibid.,  p.  360,  at  greater  length. 


224         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

age  testified  to  the  presence  of  the  Divine  Spirit.* 
"Prayer  and  singing" — the  natural  victims  of  un 
disciplined  enthusiasm  at  all  times !  Do  I  mistake 
in  thinking  that  the  Apostle's  rules  for  controlling 
the  "gift  of  tongues"  are  not  without  relevance  still 
in  respect  of  those  matters?  Restraint  of  private 
feelings  in  public,  reverence, — these,  surely,  are  not 
superfluous  counsels  in  these  days,  when  men's 
feelings  are  proposed  as  the  very  bases  of  their 
faith,  and  a  strange  familiarity,  not  to  say  a  dis 
respect,  is  indulged  in  by  Christians  when  addressing 
the  Almighty,  and  even  exalted  as  the  proper  ex 
pression  of  the  filial  relationship,  into  which,  by  the 
adoption  of  grace,  Christians  have  been  admitted. 
Extempore  prayers  and  popular  hymns  have  renewed 
in  our  own  times  the  extravagances,  without  the 
excuses,  of  Corinth.  "  There  is  a  great  danger  in 
ungoverned  feeling,"  observes  one  of  the  wisest 
spiritual  teachers  of  this  century. f  "There  are 
persons  more  highly  gifted  with  fine  delicate  sensi 
bilities  than  others  ;  they  are  not  moved  to  action 
like  others,  by  convictions  of  the  intellect  or  by  a 
strong  sense  of  duty ;  they  can  do  nothing  except 
through  their  affections.  All  this  is  very  precious, 
no  doubt,  if  well  used  ;  but  just  in  proportion  as 

*  "  Michael  Maurice  went  himself  to  London,  and  was  simply 
shocked  by  what  he  saw  and  heard  at  Mr.  Irving's  church— the  wild 
voices  and  artificial  excitement."  (Life  of  F.  D.  Maurice,  vol.  i. 
p.  116.)  Dr.  Arnold  (/.  c.)  was  offended  by  the  religious  arrogance  of 
the  Irvingites.  "The  intolerance  of  their  presumption  in  calling 
themselves  the  only  true  Church  would,  to  my  mind,  go  very  near 
to  decide  against  them." 

t  F.  W.  ROBERTSON,  Lectures  on  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  p.  236. 


THE  GIFT  OF  TONGUES  225 

feelings  are  strong  do  they  require  discipline.  The 
temptation  is  great  to  indulge  from  mere  pleasure  of 
indulgence,  and  from  the  admiration  given  to  feeling. 
It  is  easier  to  gain  credit  for  goodness  by  a  glistening 
eye,  while  listening  to  some  story  of  self-sacrifice, 
than  by  patient  usefulness.  It  is  easier  to  get  credit 
for  spirituality  by  thrilling  at  some  impassioned 
speech  on  the  platform,  or  sermon  from  the  pulpit, 
than  by  living  a  life  of  justice,  mercy,  and  truth. 
And  hence  religious  life  degenerates  into  mere  in 
dulgence  of  feeling,  the  excitement  of  religious 
meetings,  or  the  utterance  of  strong  emotion.  In 
this  sickly  strife  life  wastes  away,  and  the  man  or 
woman  becomes  weak,  instead  of  strong ;  for  in 
variably  utterance  weakens  feeling." 

"  Feelings "  may  not  be  despised,  but  they  must 
always  be  checked,  and  never  wholly  trusted. 
"Quench  not  the  spirit"; — writes  S.  Paul,  perhaps 
with  the  "gift  of  tongues"  in  his  mind — "despise 
not  prophesying*;  prove  all  things;  hold  fast  that 
which  is  good;  abstain  from  every  form  of  evil" 
The  same  balanced  sympathy  and  caution  speak 
in  the  conclusion  to  the  discussion  of  the  charis 
mata  in  I  Cor.  xiv.,  "  Wherefore^  my  brethren,  desire 
earnestly  to  prophesy ',  and  forbid  not  to  speak  with 
tongues.  But  let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in 
order"  Be  slow  to  condemn  enthusiasm,  for  it  may, 
indeed — in  spite  of  external  appearances,  which 
suggest  fanaticism — indicate  a  genuine  working  of 
God  upon  the  human  spirit.  Be  slower  still  to 
give  enthusiasm  free  scope,  for  under  the  masque 
of  its  fervour  strange  elements  may  come  into  play 
Q 


226        APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

— pride,  and  self-centredness,  and  self-advertisement. 
Always  keep  before  you  the  essential  superiority  of 
the  serviceable  over  the  merely  devotional  activities 
of  discipleship.  "There  are  gifts  which  draw  ad 
miration  to  a  man's  self,  others  which  solace  and 
soothe  him  personally,  and  a  third  class  which  benefit 
others.  The  world  and  the  Bible  are  at  issue  as  to 
the  comparative  worth  of  these.  A  gifted  singer  soon 
makes  a  fortune,  and  men  give  their  guinea  and  their 
ten  guineas  ungrudgingly  for  a  morning's  enjoyment. 
A  humble  teacher  in  a  school  or  a  missionary  can 
often  but  only  just  live.  Gifts  that  are  showy  and 
gifts  that  please — before  these  the  world  yields  her 
homage,  while  the  lowly  teachers  of  the  poor  and  the 
ignorant  are  forgotten  and  unnoticed.  Only  remember 
that  in  the  sight  of  the  Everlasting  Eye  the  one  is 
creating  sounds  which  perish  with  the  hour  that 
gave  them  birth,  the  other  is  doing  a  work  that  is 
for  ever — building  and  forming  for  the  eternal  world 
an  immortal  human  spirit." 


CHAPTER  V. 
MIRACLES 

IT  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  volume 
to  discuss  miracles  in  themselves.  I  take  for 
granted  their  possibility,  and  address  myself  to  the 
task  of  discovering  the  place  they  held  in  the  Apos 
tolic  Church.  My  method  is  sufficiently  simple.  In 
the  first  place,  I  shall  briefly  put  together  the  evi 
dence  which  we  possess ;  in  the  next  place,  I  shall 
endeavour  to  appreciate  the  facts. 

The  earliest  and  in  all  respects  the  weightiest 
testimony  on  the  subject  is  that  of  the  Corinthian 
Epistles.  Miracles  are  included  among  the  charis 
mata  of  the  Spirit.  They  fall  into  two  classes.  On 
the  one  hand,  there  are  "gifts  of  healings"  (xaptV/xara 
myixcmov).  These  may  be  illustrated  by  the  well- 
known  passage  in  S.  James'  Epistle,  where  the 
association  of  physical  illness  with  sin  is  evident. 
"  Is  any  among  you  sick  ?  let  him  call  for  the  elders 
of  the  church  :  and  let  them  pray  over  him,  anointing 
him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord:  and  the  prayer 
of  faith  shall  save  him  that  is  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall 
raise  him  up :  and  if  he  have  committed  sins,  it  shall 
be  forgiven  him.  Confess  therefore  your  sins  one  to 
another,  and  pray  for  one  another  that  ye  may  be  healed. 

227 


228         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

The  supplication  of  a  righteous  man  availeth  much  in 
its  working"  *  Here,  however,  there  is  no  mention 
of  a  special  charisma  of  healing,  but  only  of  the 
efficacy  of  prayer.  A  better  parallel  is  provided  by 
the  records  in  the  Acts.  Thus  of  the  cripple  at 
Lystra  we  read  that  S.  Paul  "fastening  his  eyes  upon 
him,  and  seeing  that  he  had  faith  to  be  made  whole, 
said  to  him  with  a  loud  voice.  Stand  upright  on  thy 
feet"\  Similar  action  is  attributed  to  S.  Peter,  who 
healed  a  paralyzed  man  at  Lydda  with  the  words, 
"sEneas,  Jesus  Christ  healeth  thee :  arise,  and  make 
thy  bed"  \  The  charisma  evidently  included  the 
power  to  recognize  a  suitable  subject  for  treatment. 
The  exercise  of  the  miraculous  power — if  such  we 
ought  to  call  an  action  which  scarcely  lies  outside 
general  experience — was  limited  in  range.  Only 
persons  of  a  certain  temperament,  and,  perhaps,  only 
certain  classes  of  physical  infirmity,  could  yield  to 
the  influence  of  this  charisma.  Certainly  the  exist 
ence  within  the  Church  of  inspired  faith-healers  §  did 
not  exclude  the  necessity  of  physicians.  S.  Paul 
himself  was  afflicted  with  bad  health :  and  neither 
his  own  prayers  nor  the  miraculous  powers  which  he 
possessed  could  remove  his  ailment.  S.  Luke,  "the 
beloved  physician"  \(  had  to  bring  his  medical  skill  to 
the  Apostle's  aid.  S.  Timothys  "often  infirmities"*^ 
were  to  be  corrected  not  by  religious  exercises,  but 
by  a  change  of  diet.  I  see  no  reason  to  think  that 

*  S.  James  v.  14-17.  t  Acts  xiv.  9.  %  Ibid.  ix.  34. 

§  I  would  refer  the  reader  to  Archbishop  TEMPLE'S  Bampton 
Lectures,  "  The  Relations  between  Religion  and  Science,"  especially 
Lecture  VII. 

||  Col.  iv.  14.  IT  I  Tim.  v.  23. 


MIRACLES  229 

the  Christian  of  the  first  century  as  such  ordinarily 
enjoyed  any  advantage  from  the  "gifts  of  healings" 
These  may  have  served  a  useful  purpose  as  occasional 
demonstrations  of  apparently  superhuman  power, 
arresting  the  notice  of  the  heathen,  and  inducing 
their  belief,  but  in  the  normal  life  of  the  Christian 
community  they  counted  for  little.  We  read  in  two 
passages  of  the  Acts*  of  many  amazing  miracles 
wrought  by  S.  Peter,  and,  later,  by  S.  Paul ;  but  the 
account  in  both  cases  has  an  unusual  and,  so  to  say, 
hyperbolical  aspect,  which  perhaps  permits  us  to 
regard  it  as  less  historical  than  the  rest  of  the 
narrative,  and  on  any  showing  these  displays  of 
wonder-working  did  not  continue.  Commonly  the 
Christians  were  as  the  rest  of  men,  save  for  the 
comforts  and  encouragements  of  their  faith.  They 
fell  sick,  and  died  like  their  neighbours  ;  like  them 
they  associated  sickness  and  death  very  closely  with 
the  hostile  or  penal  action  of  spiritual  powers,  and 
had  recourse,  therefore,  to  acts  of  religion  for  their 
relief  in  time  of  illness.  Often,  no  doubt,  where  will 
was  strong  and  faith  was  ardent  very  astonishing 
recoveries  took  place,  as,  indeed,  they  do  still ;  but 
for  the  most  part  the  sick  had  to  surrender  them- 

*  (i)  Acts  v.  1 2- 1 6.  "They  even  carried  out  the  sick  into  the 
streets  and  laid  them  on  beds  and  couches,  that,  as  Peter  came  by,  at 
the  least  his  shadow  might  overshadow  some  one  of  them." 

(2)  Acts  xix.  u,  12.  "And  God  wrought  special  miracles  by  the 
hands  of  Paul :  insomuch  that  unto  the  sick  were  carried  away  from 
his  body  handkerchiefs  or  aprons,  and  the  diseases  departed  from  them, 
and  the  evil  spirits  went  out."  The  curious  story  of  the  Exorcists, 
who  imitated  S.  Paul's  method  with  calamitous  results  to  themselves, 
then  follows,  and,  as  a  consequence  from  it,  the  sacrifice  of  "vanities" 
by  the  Ephesians.  The  whole  narrative  is  extremely  difficult. 


230          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

selves  to  the  risks  of  medical  treatment  in  an  age 
when  medical  science  was  in  its  infancy.  The 
counsels  of  the  son  of  Sirach  were  certainly  familiar 
to  S.  Paul,  and  probably  to  his  converts  also.  "  My 
son,  in  thy  sickness  be  not  negligent:  but  pray  unto  the 
Lord,  and  He  shall  heal  thee.  Put  away  wrong  doing, 
and  order  thine  hands  aright,  and  cleanse  thy  heart 
from  all  manner  of  sin.  .  .  .  Then  give  place  to  the 
physician, for  verily  the  Lord  hath  created  him:  and 
let  him  not  go  from  thee,  for  thou  hast  need  of  him"* 

On  the  other  hand,  are  the  "  workings  of  miracles  " 
(evepyij/mara  SvvdjuLewv)  a  general  expression,  of  which 
it  is  not  easy  to  fix  the  meaning?  "Paul  would 
speak  " —  comments  M.  Godet — "  of  the  faculty  of 
working  every  kind  of  miraculous  act,  other  than 
simple  healings,  and  designed  to  match  the  needs 
of  the  different  situations  in  which  the  servant  of 
Christ  may  find  himself;  resurrections  of  the  dead, 
castings-out  of  demons,  chastisements  inflicted  on 
faithless  Christians  or  on  adversaries,  such  as 
Ananias  or  Elymas,  deliverance  such  as  Paul's  at 
Melita."f 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  S.  Paul  claims  for 
himself  this  wonder-working  power,  and  advances 
the  fact  as  an  evidence  of  his  own  equality  with 
"the  very  chief est  apostles" \  "Truly  the  signs  of 
an  apostle  were  wrought  among  you " — he  writes  to 
the  Corinthians  in  his  second  Epistle  —  "in  all 

*  Eccles.  xxxviii.  9,  10,  12.  f  Vol.  ii.  p.  207. 

t  2  Cor,  xii.  2.     ovdtv  yap  vo-rtp-rjo-a  TWV  vircpXtav  a.Troo-T6\wv,  el  Kal 
ftfju.'     TO.  fitv  crTj/ieta  TOV  diro<rT6\ov  Kareipydffdr]  iv  vfjuv  tv  wavy 
,  0-77/iei'oiy  re  Kal  rtpa<Tiv  /ecu  5vvafJ.€ffiv. 


MIRACLES  231 

patience,  by  signs  and  wonders  and  mighty  works'' 
Similarly  in  the  first  Epistle  he  declares  that 
"his  speech  and  his  preaching  were  not  in  persuasive 
words  of  wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the  spirit 
and  of  power''  *  It  is  not  a  little  astonishing  in  view 
of  these  statements  that  in  the  record  of  the  Acts 
there  is  no  hint  of  miracles  at  Corinth  ;  perhaps  it 
is  not  necessary  to  assume  that  in  speaking  of  "  signs 
and  wonders  and  mighty  works"  the  Apostle  meant 
physical  prodigies.  The  establishment  of  the  Church 
in  Corinth,  effected  in  the  teeth  of  bitter  and  powerful 
opposition,  was  itself  an  evident  "  demonstration  of 
the  spirit''  It  must,  however,  be  conceded  that  the 
words  are  more  naturally  interpreted  of  miracles  in 
the  technical  sense. 

If  we  examine  the  recorded  miracles  of  S.  Paul  we 
find  that,  apart  from  acts  of  healing,  they  consisted 
either  of  punishments  inflicted  on  opponents,  or  of 
exorcism.  The  raising  to  life  of  Eutychus  I  leave  out 
of  reckoning,  because  I  think  the  narrative  may  be 
fairly  read  as  the  record  of  a  natural  event.  The 
young  man  was  at  first  assumed  to  be  dead,  but  the 
Apostle  discovered  the  falseness  of  the  assumption. 
"  Make  ye  no  ado  " — he  said — "for  his  life  is  in  him'' 
An  accident  of  that  kind  would  almost  certainly 
acquire  a  miraculous  aspect  in  so  credulous  an  age, 
but  there  is  really  nothing  miraculous  about  it.f 

*  I  Cor.  ii,  4.  /ecu  6  \oyos  /JLOU  KCU  rb  KT)pvyfj,d  /xou  OUK  tv  7ri#<uy  cro$tas 
X67ois  aXX'  Iv  ct7ro5f££ei  irvevp.aros  Kai  dwdfj-cus,  ij/a  rj  iriffris  vp&v  /J.T]  •$ 
tv  <ro<j>lq.  avdpuTrov  aXX'  iv  Svvdfj.ei  0eoD. 

t  Acts  xx.  7-12.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  this  is  one  of  the  "we" 
passages,  which  are  universally  recognized  as  of  the  highest  historical 
authority.  Yet  v.  13  suggests  that  his  companions  had  left  the  Apostle 


232         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

We  have  already,  in  a  previous  chapter,  considered 
the  meaning  of  that  '''delivery  unto  Satan  for  the 
destruction  of  the  flesh"  and  we  then  saw  how  it 
assumed  the  Apostolic  belief  in  the  empire  of  Satan 
in  the  world,  and  how  under  the  circumstances  of  the 
time  there  would  be  a  large  probability  of  its  literal 
interpretation  in  fact.  In  the  Acts  we  read  of  the 
punishment  inflicted  on  Elymas  the  Sorcerer.  The 
Apostle  "felled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  fastened  his  eyes 
on  him,  and  said,  O  full  of  all  guile  and  all  villany, 
thou  son  of  the  devil,  thou  enemy  of  all  righteous 
ness,  wilt  thou  not  cease  to  pervert  the  right  ways 
of  the  Lord?  And  now,  behold,  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  is  upon  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  blind,  not  seeing 
the  sun  for  a  season.  A  nd  immediately  there  fell  on 
him  a  mist  and  a  darkness:  and  he  went  about  seeking 
some  to  lead  him  by  the  hand'''*  This  must  be 
regarded  as  an  extraordinary  exercise  of  a  power, 
which  normally  was  used  as  the  sanction  of  Church 
discipline.  Commonly  S.  Paul  declined  to  exercise 
authority  over  those  who  were  not  members  of  the 
Church.  "  What  have  I  to  do  with  judging  them 
that  are  without?"  he  asks  in  the  Epistle  before 
us.  We  must  assume  that  there  were  special 
circumstances  of  aggravation  in  the  case  of  the 
sorcerer  Elymas,  which  justified  S.  Paul  in  departing 
from  his  general  rule. 

still  speaking,  and  were  not,  therefore,  actually  present  at  the  episode  in 
question.     However   this   may   be,    I   do   not   see   any   necessity   for 
understanding   more   than   is   actually    stated ;    S.    Paul's   expression 
literally  precludes  the  notion  of  a  resurrection. 
*  Acts  xiii.  9-1 1. 


MIRACLES  233 

Probably  the  commonest  type  of  miracle  was  that 
known  as  "exorcism."  The  passage  in  the  Acts, 
to  which  I  have  already  alluded  as  scarcely  historical, 
gives  prominence  to  S.  Paul's  power  as  an  exorcist, 
and  describes  the  ignoble  failure  which  followed  upon 
the  attempt  made  by  the  sons  of  Seeva  to  imitate 
his  method.  "And  God  wrought  special  miracles  by 
the  hands  of  Paul:  insomuch  that  unto  the  sick  were 
carried  away  from  his  body  handkerchiefs  or  aprons, 
and  the  diseases  departed  from  them,  and  the  evil  spirits 
went  out."  The  history  of  the  Jewish  exorcists,  and 
as  a  result  the  burning  of  the  magical  books  of  the 
Ephesians,  then  follow.  We  are  not  here  concerned 
with  this  remarkable  narrative  save  in  so  far  as  it 
supports  the  contention  that  the  "  miracles "  of  the 
early  Church,  apart  from  healings  and  judgments, 
were  mostly  acts  of  exorcism.  The  casting  out  of 
devils  has  a  very  prominent  place  in  the  Gospels. 
It  is  recorded  that  our  Saviour  gave  to  His  Apostles 
and  to  the  Seventy  "power  and  authority  over  all 
devils"*  We  learn  that  there  was  a  disposition  to 
exult  in  the  possession  of  this  mysterious  power,  and 
that  Christ  rebuked  this  disposition.  "Behold,  I  have 
given  you  authority  to  tread  upon  serpents  and 
scorpions,  and  over  all  the  power  of  the  enemy :  and 
nothing  shall  in  any  wise  hurt  you.  Howbeit  in  this 
rejoice  not,  that  tJie  spirits  are  subject  unto  you  :  but 
rejoice  that  your  names  are  written  in  heaven' 't  The 
authority,  however,  was  not  limited  to  the  disciples, 
nor  would  Christ  permit  it  to  be  limited.  On  one 
occasion  we  read  that  the  question  was  raised  by  the 

*  S.  Luke  ix.  i.  t  Ibid.  x.  19,  20. 


234         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Apostles,  and  decisively  answered  by  our  Lord. 
"John  answered  and  said,  Master,  we  saw  one  casting 
out  devils  in  TJiy  name  ;  and  we  forbade  him,  because 
he  followelh  not  with  us.  But  Jesus  saith  unto  him, 
Forbid  him  not:  for  he  that  is  not  against  you  is 
for  you''*  In  the  appendix  to  S.  Mark's  Gospel  the 
power  to  cast  out  devils  is  included  among  the 
"signs"  which  "  shall  follow  them  that  believe' 't  It 
cannot  be  questioned  that  in  that  age  the  practice 
of  exorcism  was  the  normal  characteristic  of  religious 
prominence.  It  attracted  general  notice,  and  pro 
voked  little,  if  any,  criticism.  Exorcism  perpetuated 
itself  in  the  Church,  while  every  other  type  of  miracle 
quickly  ceased.  The  Roman  Church  to  this  day 
includes  among  the  "minor  orders"  of  clergy  that 
of  the  exorcist.  In  early  times  this  mysterious 
power  was  not  limited  to  an  Order,  but  supposed 
to  belong  to  every  Christian  as  such.  Now  exorcism 
was  precisely  the  form  of  miracle  which  least  affected 
the  normal  course  of  human  life.  It  is  >to  this 
conclusion  that  I  would  bring  my  discussion. 
Miracles  played  a  very  small  part  in  the  actual 
experience  of  the  Church.  The  crises  of  need, 
through  which  then,  as  in  later  times,  Christians  had 
to  pass,  were  met  by  the  commonplace  resources  of 
prudence  and  chanty.  No  miracle  provided  relief 
for  the  poor  Christians  of  Judaea  during  the  famine 
which  Agabus  foretold.  Such  relief  as  came  to 
them  was  obtained  from  the  collection  in  the  Gentile 
Churches,  which  S.  Paul  promoted  with  such  ardour. 
The  Apostle  himself  never  drew  upon  his  miraculous 

*  Ibid.  ix.  49,  50.  t  S.  Mark  xvi.  17. 


MIRACLES  235 

powers  for  that  sustenance  which  he  earned  by  his 
labour  as  a  tentmaker,  or,  where  that  was  impossible, 
accepted  as  a  gift  from  the  most  devoted  of  his 
converts.  Always  miracles  were  "signs"  not  ex 
emptions  for  the  Church  from  normal  terrestrial 
conditions,  still  less  the  decoration  of  individuals ; 
but  "signs"  convincing  indications  of  superhuman 
power  mercifully  offered  to  the  heathen,  to  whom 
in  the  first  instance,  without  traditions  and  without 
commendations,  the  gospel  was  presented.  "Miracles," 
it  has  been  truly  said,  "  are  the  swaddling  clothes  of 
the  infant  Churches."  It  is  deeply  significant  that 
in  the  miraculous  age  the  inspired  Authors  of  the 
New  Testament  should  have  subordinated  them  to 
the  more  prosaic  and  enduring  virtues  of  the 
Christian  character.  A  few  sentences,  a  few  more 
vague  references,  are  all  that  the  Epistles  contain 
about  those  miraculous  powers  which  have  loomed 
so  large  in  the  misty  retrospect  of  history ;  but  the 
sacred  writers  never  tire  of  urging  upon  Christians 
the  practical  duties  of  that  righteous  life  to  which 
their  discipleship  committed  them  The  "  fruits  of 
the  Spirit"  will  remain  the  authentic  marks  of 
discipleship  when  miracles  are  but  a  faint  memory. 
"  Love  never  faileth  ;  but  whether  there  be  prophecies, 
they  shall  be  done  away  ;  whether  there  be  tongues,  they 
shall  cease :  whether  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  be 
done  away"  Miracles — it  must  never  be  forgotten — 
have  been  the  familiar  tokens  of  falsehood  ;  and, 
historically,  the  claim  to  work  miracles  is  inseparably 
connected  with  religious  imposture.  Our  Lord  pro 
phesied  that  this  should  be  so.  "  There  shall  arise 


236         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

false  Christs,  and  false  prophets,  and  shall  show  great 
signs  and  wonders :  so  as  to  lead  astray,  if  possible, 
even  the  elect'.'*  S.  Paul,  in  like  manner,  associates 
great  displays  of  miraculous  power  with  "  the  lawless 
one"  of  whom  he  writes  mysteriously  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  "even  he,  whose  coining  is  according  to  the 
working  of  Satan  with  all  power  and  signs  and  lying 
wonder s"\  In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  our  Saviour 
warns  us  that  the  power  to  work  miracles  may 
co-exist  with  a  cold  heart,  and  a  dead  faith,  and 
an  evil  life.  '''Many  will  say  to  Me  in  that  day,  Lord, 
Lord,  did  we  not  prophesy  by  Thy  Name,  and  by  Thy 
Name  cast  out  devils,  and  by  thy  Name  do  many 
mighty  works?  And  then  will  I  profess  unto  them, 
I  never  knew  you  :  depart  from  Me,  ye  that  work 
iniquity  "\  It  is  this  constant  depreciation  of 
miracles  as  compared  with  moral  qualities  which 
distinguishes  the  New  Testament  from  most  religious 
literature  of  succeeding  ages.  The  closest  to  His 
Master's  Heart  of  all  the  Apostles  was  Sv  John  ; 
and  as  S.  Chrysostom  long  ago  observed,  no  miracle 
is  directly  ascribed  to  him.  It  was  no  sign  of  grace 
in  Simon  Magus  to  offer  money  for  the  miraculous 
power  which  he  observed  in  the  Apostles,  and  which 
degraded  those  holy  men  in  his  mind  to  his  own 
category  of  imposture.  It  would  seem,  however, 
that  Simon  Magus,  rather  than  S.  Peter,  has  deter 
mined  the  later  estimate  of  prodigies  in  the  Christian 
Church.  So  far  from  the  apostolic  standpoint  have 
Christians  travelled  that  now  the  rule  of  the  Roman 

*  S.  Matt.  xxiv.  24.  t  2  Thess.  ii.  9. 

±  S.  Matt.  vii.  22. 


MIRACLES  237 

Church  has  made  the  working  of  miracles  the  very 
test  of  sanctity. 

The  craving  for  the  miraculous  appears  to  be  an 
unfailing  evidence  of  religious  decline.  The  history 
of  all  the  great  religions  of  the  world  will  provide 
examples  of  this  law.  Christianity  is  no  exception. 
The  individual  disciple,  not  less  than  the  society  of 
disciples,  reveals  its  working.  What  is  superstition 
but  the  craving  for  the  miraculous?  and  when  did 
superstition  fail  to  disturb  the  moral  perspective,  and 
minister  to  weakening  of  character  ?  It  is  said  that 
in  the  heart  of  our  sceptical  modern  civilization, 
notably  in  France  and  in  the  great  cities  of  America, 
to  a  less  extent  but  in  growing  measure  in  this 
country,  quasi-miraculous  movements  are  attracting 
no  little  attention,  and  drawing  after  them  no  small 
number  of  adherents.  Spiritualism,  theosophy, 
esoteric  Buddhism,  or  by  whatever  other  name 
these  new  Gospels  of  the  Mysterious  may  be  known 
— all  at  least  have  this  in  common  with  debased 
religion  in  every  age,  that  they  appeal  to  that  lust 
for  miracle  which  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  so 
constantly  rebuked.  Perhaps  that  circumstance 
would  suffice  to  assure  a  reflective  man  that  in 
those  movements  there  is  scanty  promise  for  society. 
They  will  not  minister  strength  to  the  will,  or 
impose  the  restraints  of  principle  upon  the  way 
ward  appetites  of  our  nature.  In  seeking  after  the 
miraculous  men  miss  the  obvious.  Star-gazers  are 
apt  to  find  themselves  in  ditches.  The  one  perpetual 
miracle,  which  is  accessible  to  all,  and  which  alone 
can  sustain  the  searching  criticism  of  the  human 


238         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

conscience,  is  the  miracle  of  a  holy  life.  For  there 
can  be  no  mistake  about  the  source  or  the  witness 
of  a  holy  life.  Miracles  in  the  common  sense  can 
be  imitated  and  misunderstood  ;  a  holy  life  never. 
It  is  quite  manifest  to  the  simplest  understanding, 
a  message  fresh  from  God,  which  commands  the 
audience  of  every  conscience.  "A  good  tree  cannot 
bring  forth  evil  fruit :  neither  can  a  corrupt  tree  bring 
forth  good  fruit"  *  Men  know  that  in  their  inmost 
hearts,  and  therefore,  in  the  long  run,  they  do  homage 
to  righteousness.  This  is  the  normal  witness  of 
Christ's  disciples ;  it  is  the  only  test  of  truth  the 
world  is  authorised  to  demand,  or  the  Church  is  able 
to  offer.  It  is  a  real  test ;  for  a  holy  life  is  mani 
festly  supernatural.  "No  man  can  say,  Jesus  is  Lord 
but  in  the  Holy  Spirit" \  To  own  the  Lordship 
of  the  Crucified  in  any  worthy  and  effectual  measure 
means  much,  too  much  for  mere  human  virtue,  how 
soever  buttressed  by  high  traditions  and  helped 
forward  by  large  approbation,  so  much  that  only 
the  grace  of  God,  earnestly  sought  in  prayer  and 
discipline,  can  enable  anyone  to  achieve  it.  It 
means  the  miraculous  life  inspired  by  the  miraculous 
presence.  " Know  ye  not  as  to  your  own  selves"  re 
proachfully  asks  S.  Paul  of  the  Corinthians,  "that 
Jesus  Christ  is  in  you  ?  unless  indeed  ye  be  reprobate"  % 
Beside  that  miracle  all  else  is  petty. 

*  S.  Matt.  vii.  18.  f  i  Cor.  xii.  3.  %  2  Cor.  xiii.  5. 


CHAPTER   VI. 
THE   CHRISTIAN   PROPHETS 

NO  one  can  read  the  New  Testament,  and 
especially  the  Pauline  Epistles,  with  any  care 
and  not  perceive  the  great  place  which  in  the 
Apostolic  Church  was  filled  by  the  prophets.  The 
Church  is  said  to  be  "  built  upon  the  foundation  of 
the  apostles  and  prophets,  Christ  Jesus  Himself  being  O3. 
the  chief  corner  stone!"1  In  the  Apocalypse  we  read 
that  "  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy''  \ 
It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  quotations  ;  but  there  is 
no  need.  Their  importance  is  sufficiently  manifest, 
but  their  precise  functions  are  not  so  clear.  The 
language  of  S.  Paul  seems  contradictory.  On  the 
one  hand,  he  speaks  of  the  ''prophets  "  as  constituting 
a  distinct,  class ;  both  in  the  Corinthian  and  in  the 
Ephesian  lists  of  Christian  ministers  they  are  placed 
next  in  order  to  the  "apostles."  "And  God  hath  set 
some  in  the  church,  first  apostles,  secondly  prophets, 
thirdly  teachers"  is  the  language  of  the  one ;  "And 
He  gave  some  to  be  apostles  ;  and  some  prophets  ;  and 
some  evangelists  ;  and  some  pastors  and  teachers  " — 
is  that  of  the  other.  In  I  Cor.  xiv.  the  "prophets" 
appear  as  a  very  well-defined  group,  accustomed  to 

• 

*  Eph,  ii.  20.  t  Rev.  xix.  io. 

239 


240         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

take  an  important  share  in  the  conduct  of  public 
worship,  and  perhaps  occupying  official  seats  in  the 
Christian  assembly.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Apostle 
contemplates  the  prophesying  of  the  entire  Church 
as  a  desirable  and  not  improbable  contingency.  "For 
ye  all  can  prophesy  one  by  one"  he  writes, "  that  all  may 
learn,  and  all  may  be  comforted!'*  He  bids  the 
Corinthians  "  desire  earnestly  to  prophesy!'  f  Not 
even  women  were  excluded  from  the  prophetic  gift. 
Nay,  S.  Paul  contemplates  their  publicly  exercising 
it.  "  But  every  woman  praying  or  prophesying  with 
lier  /lead  unveiled  dishonoureth  her  head."  J  In  the 
Acts  we  read  of  S.  Philip  the  Evangelist  that  he 
" had  four  daughters  which  did  prophesy"  §  The 
contradiction,  however,  is  only  on  the  surface,  and 
arises  rather  from  our  preconceived  notions  of 
Church  order  than  from  any  obscurity  in  the 
language  of  S.  Paul.  Three  things  are  quite  evident. 
The  prophets  were  not  an  order  of  the  ministry  in 
the  traditional  sense  of  the  phrase.  I  see  nq  reason 
for  thinking  that  they  received  any  formal  Ordina 
tion,  though  I  observe  that  the  contrary  is  very 
commonly  assumed.  Moreover,  the  prophetic  in 
spiration  might  come,  and  often  did  come,  to  private 
Christians  of  both  sexes.  Finally,  that  inspiration, 
though  occasional  and,  so  to  say,  intermittent,  was 
considered  to  permanently  attach  to  whomsoever 
it  had  once  been  given.  The  prophets,  both  men 
and  women,  were  not  an  ordained  official  ministry, 
but  they  were  a  definite,  recognized  class,  recruited 

•  I  Cor.  xiv.  31.  f  Ibid.  39. 

£  i  Cor.  xi.  5.  §  Acts  xxi.  2. 


THE   CHRISTIAN    PROPHETS         241 

supernaturally  from  the  body  of  the  faithful.  The 
prominence  of  the  prophets  in  the  Church  was  very 
brief;  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  prophecy  is  just 
alluded  to.  S.  Timothy  is  reminded  of  "the  pro 
phecies  which  went  before  on  him"*  and  which 
apparently  marked  him  out  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  as  on  a  memorable  occasion  S.  Paul  himself 
had  been  marked  out  for  a  missionary  venture  by  the 
prophets  of  Antioch.  In  the  same  epistle  prophecy 
is  spoken  of  as  associated  with  S.  Timothy's  ordina 
tion.  "  Neglect  not  the  gift  that  is  in  tJiee,  which  was 
given  thee  by  prophecy,  with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands 
of  the  presbytery  "\  How  far  prophecy  continued  in 
the  Church  after  the  Apostolic  age  had  ended  it  is 
by  no  means  easy  to  determine.  The  evidence  is 
conflicting.  Canon  Gore  makes  the  most  of  it  in 
this  passage  :— 

"  The  gift  of  prophecy  continued  as  a  recognized 
endowment  of  the  Church  into  the  second  or  third 
centuries.  Certain  people  were  recognized  as  pro 
phets,  e.g.,  Ignatius,  Polycarp,  and  Quadratus.  .  .  . 
As  in  the  Apostolic  Church  there  had  been  pro 
phetesses,  so  too  they  had  their  late  representative 
in  Ammia  at  Philadelphia.  S.  Irenaeus,  besides 
denouncing  false  prophets,  protests  against  those 
who  would  banish  prophecy  from  the  Church  under 
pretence  of  exposing  such  pretenders,  and  witnesses, 
like  Justin  Martyr,  to  the  continuance  of  prophetic 

*  /card  rdj  Trpoayovcras  M  cr£  irpo<pr]Teia.s.  (l  Tim.  i.  1 8.)  See  Dr. 
HORT'S  very  interesting  explanation  of  this  passage  in  Christian 
Eccksia,  p.  181  foil.  He  translates  "which  led  the  way  to  thee." 

t  I  Tim.  iv.  14.     IJ.TI  afj^\€L  TOV  £v  <roi 
irpo<t>r)T€ias  /uerd  ^7rt#6rews  TUV 
R 


242          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

gifts  in  his  day.  ...  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
the  genuine  gift  seems  to  have  become  exceedingly 
rare ;  Origen  speaks  of  slight  traces  of  it  remaining 
to  his  time."  * 

The  functions  of  the  prophets  and  the  range  of 
their  prophecy  may  be  gathered  from  the  New  Testa 
ment.  They  succeeded  to  the  character  of  the  Jewish 
prophets  of  the  former  dispensation,  and  modelled 
their  behaviour  on  the  precedents  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment.  Thus  they  were  considered  to  stand  in  such 
immediate  relationship  with  the  Almighty  that  their 
inspired  directions  could  not  be  resisted  without 
impiety.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  conduct  of  the 
Church  and  of  individuals  was  determined  at  crises 
by  the  revelations  of  the  prophets.  The  history  of 
S.  Paul  provides  many  instances  of  such  prophetic 
guidance.  His  long  residence  at  Corinth  was  thus 
determined  by  a  vision  in  which  Christ  exhorted  him 
to  constancy  and  assured  him  of  success.  Perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  account  of  this  government  by 
revelation  is  the  following:  "And  they  went  through 
the  region  of  Phrygia  and  Galatia,  HAVING  BEEN 
FORBIDDEN  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST  to  Speak  the  Word 
in  Asia;  and  when  they  were  come  over  against  Mysia 
they  assayed  to  go  into  Bithynia  ;  AND  THE  SPIRIT  OF 
JESUS  SUFFERED  THEM  NOT;  and  passing  by  Mysia, 
they  came  down  to  Troas.  And  A  VISION  APPEARED 
TO  PAUL  in  the  night.  There  was  a  man  of  Mace 
donia  standing,  beseeching  him,  and  saying,  Come  over 
into  Macedonia  and  help  us.  And  when  he  had  seen 
the  vision,  straightway  we  sought  to  go  forth  into 

*  GORE,  The  Christian  Ministry,  pp.  396,  397. 


THE   CHRISTIAN    PROPHETS         243 

Macedonia,  concluding  that  GOD  HAD  CALLED  US  for 
to  preach  the  Gospel  unto  them''  *  The  supernatural 
guidance  is  assumed  as  a  matter  of  course.  God 
was  very  near  to  Christians  in  the  Apostolic  age : 
and  His  normal  instruments  of  communication  with 
the  Church  were  the  prophets.  In  i  Cor.  xiv.  S. 
Paul  contemplates  Divine  revelations  as  quite  natu 
rally  to  be  looked  for  in  the  Christian  assembly. 
"  Let  the  prophets  speak  by  two  or  three,  and  let  the 
others  discern.  But  if  a  revelation  be  made  to  another 
sitting  by,  let  the  first  keep  silence.  For  ye  all  can 
prophesy  one  by  one,  that  all  may  learn,  and  all  may 
be  comforted :  and  the  spirits  of  the  prophets  are  subject 
to  the  prophets!'  Here  the  Apostle  indicates  that 
the  Church  was  the  critic  as  well  as  the  recipient 
of  prophetic  communications,  and  that  apart  from 
special  revelations  the  prophets  had  messages  to 
deliver  in  the  assembly.  By  some  unmistakable 
tokens  the  advent  of  a  new  revelation  in  the  pro 
phet's  mind  made  itself  known  :  the  more  normal 
prophesying  was  suspended  in  order  that  the  most 
recent  "  Word  of  the  Lord"  might  be  delivered. 

What  was  the  nature  of  what  I  have  called,  for 
lack  of  a  better  phrase,  normal  prophesying  ? 
Perhaps  we  have  the  answer  in  the  text,  "He 
that  prophesieth  speaketh  unto  men  edification,  and 
comfort,  and  consolation"  \  S.  Ambrose,  three  cen 
turies  later,  regarded  interpreters  of  the  Scriptures 
as  the  representatives  of  the  prophets.  Perhaps 

*  Acts  xvi.  6-10. 

"f  1    Cor.   xiv.    3«     o   8£   Trpo<f>r)Tevuv   avdpuirois   XaXe?  olKo8ofj.r\v   /cat 
Trad/cXTjaii'  KO.\ 


244          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

preaching,  especially  that  which  is  either  addressed 
directly  to  the  conscience  of  the  sinner  with  a  view 
to  his  conversion,  or  is  directed  to  the  devout  under 
standing  of  the  believer  in  order  to  edify  him  by 
deeper  knowledge  of  Divine  truth)  presents  the 
nearest  modern  parallel  to  the  ordinary  prophesying 
of  the  Apostolic  Church.  The  New  Testament 
contains  a  specimen  of  Apostolic  prophecy  in  the 
Apocalypse.  That  book,  in  the  words  of  Weizacker, 
"  has  preserved  for  us  a  complete  picture  of  the  pro 
phetic  work  of  the  Church."*  The  central  subject 
of  all  prophecy  was  "the  expected  appearing  of 
Christ,  and  everything  that  had  the  most  remote 
connexion  with  it  in  the  shape  of  preparation, 
associations,  and  consequences."  The  Apostolic 
Church  lived  in  the  light  of  that  eager  hope, 
guided  itself  by  the  rule  of  that  masterful  motive, 
purified  itself  by  the  terror  of  that  tremendous 
thought,  "  Maran-atha,  the  Lord  is  at  hand''  Of 
this  belief  the  prophets  were  the  exponents :  pro 
phecy  may  be  said  to  have  waned  and  passed  with 
the  conviction  of  Christ's  speedy  return.  Only  when 
that  distracting  delusion  had  disappeared  could  the 
Church  attain  that  permanence  of  constitution  which 
protracted  residence  in  the  world  demanded. 

The  Church  is  the  critic  of  prophecy.  We  are 
reminded  at  once  that  in  Apostolic  times,  as  ever 
since,  over  against  every  genuine  element  of  Church 
life  has  arisen  some  base  counterfeit.  Prophecy  was 
no  exception  to  the  general  rule.  "Let  the  prophets 
speak  by  two  or  three ',  and  let  the  others  discern"  or 

*  Apostolic  Age,  vol.  ii.  p.  269,  E.T. 


THE   CHRISTIAN    PROPHETS         245 

discriminate.*  We  learn  that  among  the  charismata 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  there  was  one  which  specifically 
had  reference  to  the  critical  function  of  the  Church — 
"  discernings  of  spirits  "  (SiaKpt<T€i$  Tn/ei/yudrow).  Those 
members  of  the  Church  who  possessed  this  special 
gift  were  charged  to  exercise  it  in  the  assembly. 
The  inspired  critics  of  prophecy  were  not  left  with 
out  any  guidance. 

"Assuredly,"  observes  M.  Godet,  "it  is  not  for 
nothing  that  the  Apostle  has  begun  this  whole  dis 
cussion  on  the  spiritual  gifts  by  indicating  the 
precise  character  which  distinguishes  true  and  false 
inspirations,  by  recalling  that  the  one  have  as  their 
common  character  and  essence  this  cry  of  adoration 
— Jesus,  Lord!  whilst  the  others  tend  to  the  humilia 
tion  and  rejection  of  Jesus.  It  was  sufficient  then 
to  place  every  prophecy  in  relation  with  this  centre 
of  the  entire  Christian  revelation,  the  Person  of 
Christ,  and  to  see  to  what  result  the  prophecy  which 
had  been  heard  tended  to  make  little  of  Him  or  to 
glorify  Him."  f 

We  may  here  consider  the  passage  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans.  J  "  Having  gifts  differing  according 

*  I  Cor.  xiv.  29. 

t  ii.  p.  206.  Cf.  M.  RENAN  (S.  Paul,  p.  412),  who  gives  a  different 
application  to  the  "discerning  of  spirits." 

"  Quelques  sons  bizarres  que  pronon9aient  les  glossolales,  et  oil  se 
melaient  le  grec,  le  syriaque,  les  mots  anathema,  maranatha,  les  noms 
de  Jesus,  de  'Seigneur,'  embarrassaient  fort  les  simples  gens.  Paul, 
consulte  a  ce  sujet,  pratique  ce  qu'on  appelait  '  le  discernement  des 
esprits,'  et  cherche  a  demeler  dans  ce  jargon  confus  ce  qui  pouvait 
venir  de  1'Esprit  et  ce  qui  n'en  venait  pas. " 

J  tyovres  ^  \a.piaij.a.Ta  Kara.  TT)V  X&PIV  TV  ^oBdcrav  r/,iuV 
irpo<p-riTtia.v  Kara  ri]v  dvaXoyiav  T 


246          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

to  the  grace  that  was  given  unto  us,  whether  prophecy, 
let  us  prophesy  according  to  the  proportion  of  our  faith" 
[or  perhaps  "  of  the  faith"]  The  general  drift  of  the 
passage  seems  to  prohibit  the  common  and  attractive 
interpretation,  which  would  understand  the  Apostle 
to  refer  to  the  body  of  revealed  truth,  and  to  warn 
against  any  distortion  of  its  balanced  harmony. 
Rather  S.  Paul  is  urging  the  duty  of  modesty.  The 
prophet  is  to  gauge  accurately  his  own  spiritual 
possibilities.  He  must  not  "  strain  after  effects  for 
which  his  faith  is  insufficient."* 

So  understood  the  passage  may  best  be  compared 
with  the  Apostle's  insistence  in  the  Corinthian 
Epistle  upon  the  responsibility  of  the  prophet  for 
the  orderly  exercise  of  his  charisma.  "  The  spirits 
of  the  prophets  are  subject  to  the  prophets -."t  In 
marked  contrast  to  the  frenzied  rhapsodies  of 
the  pagan  priests  of  Oracular  shrines  the  Christian 
prophet  never  lost  his  self-control  in  the  access  of 
inspiration.  S.  Paul  himself  lays  emphasis>  on  this 
fundamental  distinction.  "  Ye  know  that  when  ye 
were  Gentiles  ye  were  led  away  unto  those  dumb  idols> 
howsoever  ye  might  be  led.  Wherefore  I  give  you  to 
understand,  that  no  man  speaking  in  the  Spirit  of 
God  saith,  Jesus  is  anathema :  and  no  man  can  say, 
Jesus  is  Lord,  but  in  the  Holy  Spirit!' %  The  test 
of  prophecy,  then,  was  its  bearing  upon  the  Person 
of  Jesus  Christ.  S.  John  speaks  to  the  same  effect 
in  his  first  Epistle,  "Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit, 

*    Vide  SANDAY  and  HEADLAM,  Romans,  p.  354.     A  very  learned, 
interesting,  and  serviceable  commentary, 
t  xiv.  32.  t  i  Cor.  xii.  2,  3. 


THE   CHRISTIAN    PROPHETS         247 

but  prove  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of  God :  because 
many  false  prophets  are  gone  out  into  the  world. 
Hereby  know  ye  the  Spirit  of  God :  every  spirit  which 
confesseth  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of 
God:  and  every  spirit  which  confesseth  not  Jesus  is 
not  of  God:  and  this  is  the  Spirit  of  antichrist, 
whereof  ye  have  heard  that  it  cometh :  and  now  it 
is  in  the  world  already!'*  The  author  of  the  so- 
called  second  Epistle  of  S.  Peter,  in  like  manner, 
makes  disloyalty  to  our  Saviour  the  mark  of  the 
false  prophet.  "-But  there  arose  false  prophets  also 
among  the  people,  as  among  you  also  there  shall  be 
false  teachers,  who  shall  privily  bring  in  destructive 
heresies,  denying  even  the  Master  that  bought  them, 
bringing  upon  themselves  swift  destruction' 't  Thus 
the  test  of  prophecy  was  doctrinal ;  under  the  actual 
circumstances  of  the  time,  however,  it  was  not  less 
truly  a  moral  test,  for  the  heresies  to  which  the 
sacred  writers  refer  had  direct  connexion  with  the 
practical  question,  Does  discipleship  necessitate 
righteousness?  In  the  strong  phrase  of  S.  Jude 
the  false  prophets  were  "  ungodly  men,  turning  the 
grace  of  our  God  into  lasciviousness,  and  denying 
our  only  Master  and  Lord,  Jesus  Christ'' 

The  moral  test  of  the  Gospels  thus  inevitably 
became  the  doctrinal  test  of  the  Epistles.  The  Lord 
ship  of  Jesus  involves  the  reign  of  righteousness  ; 
repudiation  of  righteousness  is  the  practical  ex 
pression  of  apostacy  from  Christ.  "Beware  of  false 
prophets"  so  ran  the  warning  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  "which  come  to  you  in  sheep's  clothing,  but 
*  i  John  iv.  1-3.  t  2  Peter  ii.  I. 


248          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

inwardly  are  ravening  wolves.  By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them?  As  if  His  eyes  were  resting  on 
the  history  of  His  Church,  marking  the  baleful 
tendency  to  drive  the  moral  into  the  background 
and  set  up  arbitrary  tests  of  doctrinal  orthodoxy 
and  ecclesiastical  allegiance,  He  went  on  to  warn 
us  in  words  of  merciless  lucidity  to  be  under  no 
delusions.  Discipleship  did  not  consist  in  public 
acknowledgment  of  His  Lordship,  nor  were  its 
evidences  to  be  sought  in  ardour  of  profession,  in 
zeal  of  active  work,  in  large  apparent  success,  but 
always  and  everywhere  in  the  moral  obedience  which 
induces  righteousness.  "  Not  every  one  that  saith 
unto  Me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven :  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  My  Father 
which  is  in  heaven"  It  was  then  a  thoroughly 
sound  instinct  which  led  the  early  Church  in  laying 
down  definite  rules  for  the  regulation  of  the  prophets 
to  make  everything  turn  on  the  practical  and  obvious 
matter  of  conduct.  The  rules  laid  down  in  The 
Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  insist  upon  a 
righteous  life  as  the  unfailing  test  of  the  genuine 
prophet.  "  Not  every  one  that  speaketh  in  the  spirit 
is  a  prophet,  but  only  if  he  have  the  behaviour  of 
the  Lord.  By  their  behaviour  then  shall  the  false 
prophet  and  the  prophet  be  known.  .  .  . 

"  And  every  prophet  that  teacheth  the  truth  if 
he  doeth  not  what  he  teacheth  is  a  false  prophet. 

"  But  whosoever  saith  in  the  spirit,  Give  me  money 
or  any  other  things,  ye  shall  not  hearken  to  him, 
but  if  he  bid  to  give  for  others  that  lack,  let  no  one 
judge  him."* 

*  Chap.  xi. 


THE   CHRISTIAN    PROPHETS        249 

Prophecy,  we  have  said,  finds  its  modern  form  in 
preaching.  We  may  agree  with  S.  Chrysostom 
that*  "now  we  retain  only  the  symbols  of  those 
gifts  "  which  cast  so  bright  a  lustre  on  the  Apostolic 
Church.  In  his  day  it  would  appear  that  the  Pauline 
rule  was  still  followed.  "  For  now  also,"  he  says, 
"we  speak  two  or  three,  and  by  course,  and  when 
one  is  silent  another  begins.  But  these  are  only 
signs  and  memorials  of  those  things.  Wherefore 
when  we  begin  to  speak,  the  people  respond  '  with 
Thy  Spirit',  indicating  that  of  old  they  thus  used  to 
speak,  not  of  their  own  wisdom,  but  moved  by  the 
Spirit.  But  not  so  now  (I  speak  of  mine  own  case 
so  far).  But  the  present  Church  is  like  a  woman 
who  hath  fallen  from  her  former  prosperous  days, 
and  in  many  respects  retains  the  symbols  only  of 
that  ancient  prosperity,  displaying,  indeed,  the  re- 

*  Horn.  XXXVI.  4  in  I  Cor.  (Opera,  x.  p.  395.  Paris,  1837.) 
The  Saint  gives  a  lively  picture  of  the  Church  in  Antioch  :— 

"  There  the  very  houses  were  churches  ;  but  now  the  church  itself  is 
a  house,  or  rather  worse  than  any  house.  For  in  a  house  one  may  see 
much  good  order,  since  both  the  mistress  of  the  house  is  seated  on  her 
chair  with  all  seemliness,  and  the  maidens  weave  in  silence,  and  each 
of  the  domestics  hath  his  appointed  task  in  hand.  But  here  great  is 
the  tumult,  great  the  confusion,  and  our  assemblies  differ  in  nothing 
from  a  vintner's  shop,  so  loud  is  the  laughter,  so  great  the  disturbance  ; 
as  in  baths,  as  in  markets,  the  cry  and  tumult  is  universal.  And  these 
things  are  here  only;  since  elsewhere  it  is  not  permitted  even  to 
address  one's  neighbour  in  the  Church,  not  even  if  one  have  received 
back  a  long  absent  friend  ;  but  these  things  are  done  without,  and  very 
properly."  He  says  that  the  church  had  become  a  trysting  place  for 
profligates,  for  business  men  making  bargains,  for  scandal-bearers,  and 
the  purveyors  of  political  gossip.  The  whole  description  is  a  sug 
gestive  comment  on  Church  life  in  the  "golden  age"  of  that 
"undivided  Church,"  which  some  people  would  make  the  norm  of 
our  doctrine  and  discipline. 


250          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

positories  and  caskets  of  her  golden  ornaments,  but 
bereft  of  her  wealth  ;  such  an  one  doth  the  present 
Church  resemble."  So  S.  Chrysostom,  whom  all 
Christendom  for  fifteen  centuries  has  venerated  as 
the  prince  of  Christian  preachers.  What  words  of 
humility  shall  be  lowly  enough  to  bewail  our  present 
degradation  !  The  glorious  rhapsody  of  inspiration, 
the  vision  which  opened  heaven,  the  unutterable 
ecstasy,  the  intuition  of  truth  so  powerful  and  so 
clear  as  to  constitute  a  revelation  of  God,  the  Divine 
insight  into  the  hearts  of  men — these  are  no  longer 
ours,  or  are  ours  so  faintly  and  so  rarely  that  in  the 
common  course  of  our  Church  life  they  escape 
notice,  yet  something  remains.  Still  the  Christian 
preacher's  function  is  prophetic.  He  is  set  to 
proclaim,  to  justify,  and  (alas !  for  the  weakness  of 
mortal  man)  to  illustrate  the  Lordship  of  Jesus ; 
still,  in  the  Church  "  he  that  prophesieth  speaketh  unto 
men  edification,  and  comfort,  and  consolation''  And 
still  the  old  test  of  prophecy  holds  true  of  preaching, 
"  No  man  speaking  in  the  Spirit  of  God  saith,  Jesus 
is  anathema :  and  no  man  can  say,  Jesus  is  Lord,  but 
in  the  Holy  Spirit?  What  is  the  general  drift  and 
tendency  of  the  preaching?  Does  it  bring  home 
to  men's  consciences  as  the  very  central  fact  of 
existence  the  presence  in  their  midst  of  Jesus  Christ — 
living,  loving,  ruling?  Men  clamour  for  much  from 
the  preacher.  They  seek  for  eloquence,  for  origin 
ality,  for  sensation,  for  pathos,  sometimes  (though 
this  is  not  often)  for  honesty  and  learning,  and 
they  criticise  freely  the  preacher's  performances;  but 
do  they  remember  his  real  function?  do  they  com- 


THE   CHRISTIAN   PROPHETS        251 

passionate  his  awful  lot?  do  they  in  any  measure 
help  him  to  preserve  single  and  inviolate  his  loyalty 
to  Him,  whose  representative  and  mouthpiece  he 
is?  In  those  first  days  prophecy,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  no  mere  function  of  an  official  ministry,  it  was 
poured  out  on  every  receptive  spirit.  Should  it  not  still 
be  so?  Public  Order,  of  course,  will  preclude  the 
preaching  of  private  Christians ;  the  conditions  of 
this  late  age  —  the  complexity  of  its  problems,  the 
mass  and  variety  of  its  knowledge — would  deter 
untrained  men  from  the  task,  even  if  no  law  pro 
hibited.  But  public  preaching  does  not  exhaust  the 
prophetic  mission  of  the  Church.  Still  the  Pauline 
counsel  may  be  offered,  "desire  earnestly  to  pro 
phesy"  for  the  intercourse  of  common  life  is  rich 
in  opportunities  of  that  service  which  prophecy  can 
render,  and  prophecy  alone.  It  is  not  only  in  Church 
that  the  words  are  true,  "he  (or,  for  the  matter  of 
that,  she)  that  prophesieth  speaketh  unto  men  edifica 
tion,  and  comfort,  and  consolation"  though  the  scene 
of  that  prophecy  be  the  lowliest  home,  or  the 
commonest  intercourse  of  business,  or  the  comrade 
ship  of  recreation.  And  still  the  essence  of  prophecy 
changes  not.  Then  and  now,  by  preacher  or  by 
private  Christian,  in  public  or  in  private,  the  old 
definition  holds  true :  "  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the 
Spirit  of  prophecy!' 


CHAPTER   VII. 
WOMEN    IN   THE   CHURCH 

THE  first  Corinthian  epistle  deals  at  some  length 
with  the  relation  of  the  sexes  in  the  union  of 
marriage  and  in  the  intercourse  of  discipleship.  The 
Apostle  was  led  to  devote  so  much  attention  to  the 
subject  by  the  direct  request  of  the  Corinthian 
Christians.  Evidently  in  Corinth  the  position  as 
signed  to  women  by  the  Gospel  was  much  discussed 
and  largely  misunderstood.  The  normal  relations  of 
the  sexes  seemed  to  be  irreconcilable  with  the  new 
conditions  introduced  by  Christianity.  If,  as  S.  Paul 
was  wont  to  insist,  "there  can  be  no  male  and  female" 
in  Christ  Jesus*  that  is,  if  the  basal  inequality  of  sex 
had  been  destroyed,  then  by  what  right  could  the 
ancient  badges  and  limitations  of  inequality  continue 
in  the  Christian  community?  Nay,  how  could  the 
subordination  of  the  female  in  the  relationship  of 
marriage  be  any  longer  insisted  on  ?  In  Corinth  we 
infer  from  the  Epistles  there  was  a  strong  party 
devoted  to  the  advocacy  of  the  extreme  conse 
quences  of  Christian  equality.  They  would  cancel 
the  subjection  based  on  the  natural  distinction  of 
sex,  and  destroy  at  once  and  for  ever  the  limitations 

*  Galatians  iii.  28. 
252 


WOMEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  253 

imposed  by  law  and  custom  upon  the  activity  of 
women.  Against  this  party  S.  Paul  ranged  himself 
as  an  uncompromising  opponent.  He  refused  to 
recognize  the  claim  of  the  Christian  wife  in  the 
interest  of  devotion  to  repudiate  the  marriage  bond;* 
he  insisted  on  maintaining  in  the  Church  that  public 
subordination  of  women  which  was  established  in  the 
general  custom  of  society  ;t  he  declined  to  allow  the 
possession  of  high  spiritual  gifts  to  be  made  the  plea 
for  setting  aside  the  decent  reticence  which  ought 
always  to  mark  the  public  behaviour  of  women.J 
S.  Paul  prevailed  :  his  doctrine  has  determined  the 
position  of  the  female  sex  in  Christian  society ;  and 
it  will  undoubtedly  be  approved  or  condemned  in 
proportion  as  that  position  is  considered  favourable 
or  the  reverse.  It  is  notorious  that  a  large  and 
perhaps  an  increasing  body  of  opinion  inclines  to 
regard  the  Apostle  in  no  friendly  spirit.  He  is  a 
narrow  Rabbinist,  binding  upon  the  infant  Church 
the  chains  of  his  own  prae-Christian  prejudices ;  he 
is  a  hard  celibate,  infecting  Christianity  with  his  own 
personal  contempt  for  the  gentler  side  of  human  life  ; 
he  is  at  bottom  under  the  Apostle  and  the  Christian 
always  the  Oriental,  with  the  Oriental's  conviction  of 
the  intrinsic  inferiority  of  the  weaker  sex.  In  all 
this — it  would  be  dishonest  to  deny — there  is  an 
element  of  truth.  S.  Paul's  Rabbinic  training  un 
doubtedly  affected  his  doctrine,  as  it  certainly  deter 
mined  his  arguments.  His  reasoning  is  obviously 
Rabbinic.  It  has  been  maintained  with  large  justifi 
cation  that  the  intrinsic  superiority  of  the  single  over 

*  vii.  3-5.  f  xi.  3-16.  I  xiv.  34-36. 


254         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  married  state  is  the  underlying  assumption  of  the 
seventh  chapter.  The  Apostle  would  have  been 
more  than  human  if  he  had  succeeded  in  wholly 
divesting  himself  of  the  prevailing  Oriental  notions 
about  the  female  sex.  We  may  allow  that  Weizacker 
says  truly :  *  "  Paul  did  not  in  any  way  go  beyond 
the  conception  of  woman's  position,  which  at  bottom 
belonged  to  the  whole  ancient  world,"  provided 
always  that  we  have  fairly  grasped  the  new  con 
ditions  under  which  in  Christian  circles  that  concep 
tion  would  have  to  find  practical  expression.  In  that 
process  the  conception  itself  would  be  necessarily 
modified  and  even  transformed. 

The  Christian  view  of  woman  shaped  itself  under 
four  powerful  influences.  In  the  first  place  stands 
the  Evangelic  Tradition.  No  one  can  read  the 
Gospels  and  observe  the  place  filled  by  women  in 
the  history  of  Jesus  Christ  and  fail  to  perceive  that 
a  low  view  of  woman,  that  any  view  short  of  the 
highest,  is  plainly  incompatible  with  the  Christian 
religion.  We  may  remark  in  passing  that  the 
influence  of  the  Gospels  has  tended  to  increase  with 
the  progress  of  time.  As  the  truth  about  Jesus 
Christ  became  apparent  to  the  understanding  of 
believers,  so  the  mystery  of  His  Incarnation  drew 
forth  more  and  more  their  interest,  and  stimulated 
their  devout  reflexion.  The  central  figure  in  the 
history  of  the  Incarnation,  our  Lord  Himself  apart, 
is  a  woman — the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.  It  seems 
too  evident  to  require  proof  that  belief  in  the 
Incarnation  involves  the  highest  possible  view  of 
*  But  see  Appendix  IV.,  "  Celibacy." 


WOMEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  255 

woman.  At  the  first  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
attention  was  mainly  centred  on  the  Crucifixion 
and  Resurrection  of  our  Lord  ;  the  facts  connected 
with  His  miraculous  Birth  were  little  known,  and, 
in  any  case,  were  not  well  adapted  for  the  immediate 
purposes  of  the  missionaries ;  but  when  the  Evangelic 
Tradition  had  been  committed  to  writing,  and  the 
Gospels,  substantially  in  their  present  form,  had 
been  generally  circulated,  then  the  full  meaning  of 
the  Incarnation  began  to  reveal  itself  to  the  general 
body  of  Christians.  There  are  in  human  life  normal 
forces  which  ever  tend  to  the  degradation  of  women  ; 
assuredly  those  forces  have  been  at  work  within  the 
sphere  of  Christianity ;  but  always  behind  them  has 
stood  this  influence  of  the  Gospel,  appealing,  and 
not  in  vain,  to  the  conscience  of  discipleship,  and 
restraining,  where  it  cannot  destroy,  the  power  of 
evil.  The  Christian  practice  of  publicly  reading  the 
Gospels  in  the  regular  worship  of  the  Church  has 
certainly  secured  from  all  danger  of  oblivion  the 
evangelic  prominence  of  women.  The  Virgin  Mother 
of  Bethlehem,  the  sisters  of  Bethany,  the  heroic 
mourners  on  Calvary,  the  holy  women  at  the  Tomb 
have  been  stamped  ineffaceably  on  the  memory  of 
Christendom.  Nay,  as  if  to  cut  the  roots  of  that 
cynicism  which  prompts  low  -views  of  woman,  the 
Gospel  sets  in  prominence  the  pathetic  figures  of 
the  adulteress  and  the  harlot.  The  woman  taken 
in  adultery,  that  other  woman  whose  sins  He  forgave 
because  she  loved  much,  the  weeping  Magdalen,  from 
whom  He  drave  the  seven  demons — who  more 
precious  than  these  to  the  thought  of  discipleship? 


256         APOSTOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

Who  more  potent  to  chasten  the  sensual,  and  quicken 
the  despairing,  and  cleanse  the  polluted  ? 

And  next,  there  was  the  Christian  doctrine  of 
marriage.  That  doctrine,  which  was  certainly  insisted 
on  from  the  first  as  an  express  commandment  of 
Christ,  must  have  revolutionized  the  position  of 
women  wherever  it  obtained  acceptance.  We  may 
allow — what,  indeed,  seems  to  have  been  the  fact — 
that  the  Jews,  in  spite  of  the  technical  lawfulness 
of  polygamy,  were  practically  in  that  age  mono 
gamists  ;  we  may  recognize  to  the  full  whatever 
provisions  for  securing  the  rights  of  women  the 
Jewish  law  contained  ;  and  even  so  it  is  impossible 
to  overstate  the  importance  of  the  change  which  our 
Lord  effected  by  His  Law  of  Marriage.  Consider 
what  is  involved  by  the  question  of  the  Pharisees 
addressed  to  Christ,  "  Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put 
away  his  wife  for  every  cause?"  We  are  reminded 
at  once  on  how  low  a  level  the  marriage  bond  was 
then  discussed.  There  was  a  standing  dispute 
between  the  two  great  theological  schools '  of  the 
period  on  the  question  not  whether  divorce  was 
permissible,  but  for  what  causes.  "  The  Sham- 
maites  restricted  them  to  the  commission  of  an 
iniquitous  action  by  the  wife  (probably  adultery) ; 
the  Hillelites,  going  to  an  opposite  extreme,  .  .  . 
inferred  that  a  divorce  was  warranted  even  when 
the  wife  had  only  spoiled  her  husband's  dinner. 
Rabbi  Akiba  endeavoured,  in  the  same  manner,  to 
prove  that  a  man  might  lawfully  dismiss  his  wife 
if  he  found  another  more  attractive."*  How  wide  a 
*  EDERSHEIM,  History  of  the  Jewish  Nation,  p.  274. 


WOMEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  257 

chasm  separates  such  licentious  frivolity  from  the 
majestically  simple  Law  of  Christ.  Yet  that  law  at 
its  first  promulgation  seemed  intolerable,  impossible, 
even  to  the  disciples.  "  If  the  case  of  the  man  is 
so  with  his  wife,  it  is  not  expedient  to  marry  I'* 
they  cried  in  consternation.  A  few  years  passed, 
and  S.  Paul,  steeped  in  Rabbinic  prejudices  by  his 
training,  but  liberated  by  the  love  of  Christ,  can 
write  about  marriage  in  those  dignified  and  moving 
words,  which  have  ever  since  been  treasured  by 
the  Church  as  setting  forth  the  true  ideal  of  Christian 
marriage. 

"  Wives,  be  in  subjection  unto  your  own  husbands,  as 
unto  the  Lord.  For  the  husband  is  the  head  of  the  wife, 
as  Christ  also  is  the  head  of  the  Church,  being  Himself 
the  saviour  of  the  body.  But  as  the  Church  is  subject 
to  Christ,  so  let  the  wives  also  be  to  their  husbands  in 
everything.  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ 
also  loved  the  Church,  and  gave  Himself  up  for  it : 
that  He  might  sanctify  it,  having  cleansed  it  by  the 
washing  of  water  with  the  word,  that  He  might  present 
the  Church  to  Himself  a  glorious  Church,  not  having 
spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing :  but  that  it  should 
be  holy  and  without  blemish.  Even  so  ought  husbands 
also  to  love  their  own  wives  as  their  own  bodies.  He 
that  loveth  his  own  wife  loveth  himself:  for  no  man 
ever  hated  his  own  flesh;  but  nourished  and  cherished 
it,  even  as  Christ  also  the  Church:  because  we  are 
members  of  His  body.  For  this  cause  shall  a  man 
leave  his  father  and  mother,  and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife: 
and  the  twain  shall  become  one  flesh.  Tliis  mystery  is 

*  S.  Matt.  xix.  10. 
S 


258          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

great:  but  I  speak  in  regard  of  Christ  and  of  the 
Church.  Nevertheless  do  ye  also  severally  love  each 
one  his  own  wife  even  as  himself :  and  let  the  wife  see 
that  she  fear  her  husband''  * 

Now  it  is  easy  to  perceive  in  this  passage  the 
traces  of  the  Rabbinic  influence  under  which  the 
Apostle  had  been  trained,  but  it  is  evident  that  the 
dominating  principle  is  no  longer  Rabbinic.  Marriage 
has  been  lifted  out  of  the  merely  physical  category  in 
which  the  Rabbis  placed  it,  and  has  been  brought 
into  direct  relation  with  the  very  central  belief  of 
discipleship.  It  is  no  mean  symbol  of  that  mystic 
union  which  binds  together  Christ  and  the  Church. 
Wifely  love  may  take  the  character  of  that  self- 
surrender  in  obedience  which  marks  the  Church's 
love  for  Christ.  The  husband's  love  may  represent, 
and  not  unfaithfully,  that  self-surrender  in  sacrifice 

*  Eph.  v.  22-33. 

Dr.  R.  W.  Dale  has  a  lecture  on  this  passage  filled  full  of  sound 
thought,  tersely  and  eloquently  expressed,  vide  Epkesians,  pp.  -349-377. 

Canon  Gore,  in  a  recent  volume,  The  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians, 
pp.  212-228,  discusses  S.  Paul's  teaching  on  the  subject  of  marriage 
with  characteristic  lucidity  and  force.  He  boldly  maintains  the  in 
feriority  of  woman  "  in  the  moral  qualities  which  are  concerned  with 
government — in  justice,  love  of  truth  and  judgment,  stability  and 
reasonableness."  "  To  maintain  that  men  and  women  are  only 
physiologically  different  is  to  run  one's  head  against  the  brick  wall 
of  fact  and  science,  no  less  than  against  S.  Paul's  and  S.  Peter's 
principles." 

For  an  extremely  curious  and  characteristic  exhortation  to  husbands 
and  wives  see  S.  Chrysostom's  comment  on  this  passage,  Horn.  XX. 
in  Eph.  (Opera,  xi.  p.  163).  It  indicates  the  profound  difference 
between  Eastern  and  Western  standpoints,  and  gives  an  interesting 
view  of  domestic  life  in  Constantinople  in  the  fourth  century.  The 
preacher's  preference  for  celibacy  is  not  concealed,  yet  he  draws  an 
attractive  picture  of  Christian  marriage. 


WOMEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  259 

which  marks  Christ's  love  for  the  Church.  The  union 
in  both  cases  is  eternal,  mysterious,  spiritual. 

In  the  third  place  there  was  the  evident  fact  that 
the  marvellous  gifts  of  the  Spirit  were  given  to  women 
as  well  as  to  men.  It  was  impossible  to  maintain  the 
inequality  of  the  sexes  when  God  Himself  was 
plainly  treating  them  as  equal. 

Finally,  there  was  the  logic  of  experience.  In  the 
history  of  S.  Paul  women  played  no  insignificant 
part.  Sometimes  as  opponents,  sometimes  as  allies, 
he  had  to  reckon  with  their  influence.  "  The  devout 
women  of  honourable  estate  "  took  the  lead  in  driving 
him  from  Antioch  in  Pisidia;  at  Thessalonica,  though 
the  fury  of  the  Jews  was  extreme,  not  a  few  of  the 
"  chief  women "  accepted  the  Gospel ;  among  the 
noble-hearted  Berceans,  who  heard  without  prejudice 
and  searched  the  Scriptures  for  themselves,  were 
many  "  Greek  women  of  honourable  estate"  Among 
the  few  converts  at  Athens,  we  are  expressly  told, 
was  " a  woman  named Damaris"  The  leading  mem 
bers  of  the  Philippian  Church  were  the  two  women, 
Euodia  and  Syntyche,  whose  rivalries  caused  some 
anxiety  to  the  Apostle.  He  was  on  terms  of  close 
friendship  with  Priscilla  or  Prisca,  whose  import 
ance  may  perhaps  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that 
she  is  generally  named  in  front  of  her  husband, 
Aquila.  Phoebe  the  deaconess  of  the  ChurcJi  in 
Cenchrece,  is  the  subject  of  a  separate  and  very 
eulogistic  commendation  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  and  among  the  salutations  which  conclude 
that  Epistle  we  find  mention  of  the  names  of  several 
Christian  women,  generally  with  a  kind  little  com- 


260          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

ment  added,  "  Salute  Mary,  who  bestowed  much 
labour  on  you"  "  Salute  Tryphcena  and  Tryphosa, 
who  labour  in  the  Lord"  "  Salute  Per  sis,  the  beloved, 
which  laboured  much  in  the  Lord"  and  so  forth.  All 
of  these,  if  we  may  judge  by  their  names,  were  slaves 
or  freedwomen,  but  their  importance  in  the  Church 
had  a  better  basis  than  that  of  social  consequence. 
They  were  great  in  service  and  in  suffering. 

The  expansion  of  the  Church  discovered  new 
problems,  in  the  solution  of  which  women  were  in 
dispensable.  It  is  certain  that  in  the  Apostolic  age 
the  office,  perhaps  even  the  order  of  deaconesses, 
already  existed. 

"  It  is  difficult,"  says  M.  de  Pressense",  "  to  describe 
exactly  the  deaconesses  of  the  primitive  Church. 
They  had  their  part  in  distributing  alms  and  visiting 
the  sick ;  undoubtedly  also  they  were  occupied  with 
the  Agapae,  and  lent  their  aid  to  the  deacons  for 
whatever  required  their  care  in  the  conduct  of*  public 
worship.  We  know  that  in  the  second  century  the 
deaconesses  used  to  assist  women  at  their  Baptism. 
That  custom,  so  convenient  and  so  natural,  must 
have  been  introduced  into  the  Church  from  the  first 
century.  The  widows  above  the  age  of  sixty  years 
registered  on  the  roll  of  the  Church,  of  whom  S. 
Paul  speaks  in  his  first  letter  to  Timothy,  were  pro 
bably  deaconesses.  In  fact,  we  should  not  understand 
the  duties  which  were  imposed  on  them  if  we  should 
think  only  of  a  regular  assistance.  On  the  contrary, 
nothing  is  more  accordant  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Apostolic  Church  than  to  give  employment  to  the 
spirit  of  all  its  members,  and  to  establish  a  holy 


WOMEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  261 

reciprocity  between  the  generous  gifts  made  to 
poverty  and  the  precious  services  which  poverty 
can  render.  The  widow  was  indeed  better  fitted 
than  the  virgin  for  the  office  of  deaconess,  for  she 
had  experience  of  human  life,  she  knew  its  great 
sufferings,  and  found  thus  in  her  position  a  quite 
special  aptitude  for  exercising  a  ministry  of  con 
solation."* 

While,  then,  women  secured  their  position  within 
the  Church  on  these  firm  foundations  of  principle 
and  utility,  the  danger  made  its  appearance  that  they 
should  miss  the  lesson  of  their  own  success,  and  by 
intruding  into  spheres  where,  for  fundamental  reasons 
of  physique  and  function,  they  had  no  place,  should 
endanger  their  newly-acquired  liberty.  Among  the 
Jewish  Christians,  perhaps,  the  Rabbinic  Tradition 
was  strong  enough  to  counteract  this  peril ;  but 
among  the  freer  and  more  licentious  Gentiles  the 
case  was  otherwise,  and  S.  Paul  found  it  necessary 
to  exert  his  authority  to  maintain  as  consistent  with 
Christian  equality  the  subordination  of  the  female 
sex.  He  insists  on  the  use  of  the  veil  in  the  public 
assemblies.  The  point  strikes  us  at  first  as  scarcely 
adequate,  and  the  argument  has  a  somewhat  fantastic 
appearance ;  but  we  should  greatly  err  if  we  mis 
conceived  the  real  importance  of  the  one  or  the 
permanent  truth  of  the  other.  Veiling  is  but  a 
fashion  of  dress,  and  has  no  abiding  authority ;  but 
in  that  age  veiling  was  the  general  custom  of  society, 
and  represented,  in  the  general  mind,  the  vital  and 
eternal  interest  of  modesty.  The  question  at  stake 
*  DE  PRESSENSE,  Le  Sihle  Apostolique>  ii.  p.  243. 


262         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

was  really  this :  ought  the  Church  of  Christ  to 
despise  and  disregard  the  established  conventions 
of  men  in  matters  where  the  truth  was  not  con 
cerned?  S.  Paul's  principle  is  stated  in  his  exhor 
tation  to  the  Romans.  "  Take  thought  for  things 
honourable  in  the  sight  of  all  men"  It  is  equally 
arrogant  and  uncharitable  to  offend  against  the 
legitimate  custom  of  general  society. 

But  there  was  more.  The  veil  represented  the  fact 
of  dependence,  and  its  rejection  argued  revolt  against 
the  Divine  government  of  the  universe.  "  There 
exist  three  relations,"  comments  M.  Godet,  "which 
form  between  them  a  kind  of  hierarchy :  at  the 
bottom,  the  purely  human  relation  of  man  and 
woman  ;  higher,  the  Divine-human  relation  of  Christ 
and  man ;  at  the  top,  the  wholly  Divine  relation 
between  Christ  and  God.  The  common  term  by 
which  Paul  describes  these  three  relations  is  that 
of  head.  This  figurative  expression  includes  two 
ideas  :  that  of  a  community  of  life,  and  that  of  an 
inequality  within  that  community.  Thus  between 
man  and  woman;  by  the  tie  of  marriage  there  is 
formed  between  them  the  tie  of  a  common  life,  but 
of  such  a  kind  that  the  one  is  the  strong  and  direct 
ing  element,  the  other  the  receptive  and  dependent 
element.  It  is  the  same  in  the  relation  between 
Christ  and  man.  Formed  by  the  tie  of  faith,  it 
constitutes  also  a  community  of  life  in  which  are 
distinguished  an  active  and  directing  principle,  and 
a  receptive  and  directed  factor.  An  analogous 
relation  presents  itself  higher  still  in  the  mystery 
of  the  Divine  Essence.  By  the  tie  of  sonship  there 


WOMEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  263 

is  between  Christ  and  God  communion  of  Divine 
life,  but  of  such  kind  that  the  communication 
(T  impulsion)  proceeds  from  the  Father,  and  that 
'  the  Son  can  do  nothing  but  what  He  seeth  the 
Father  doing!"* 

In  thus  linking  on  the  subordination  of  women, 
which  he  advocates,  to  the  "  vast  system  of  subordi 
nation  running  through  the  universe  "  and  ultimately 
arising  from  the  very  Being  of  God,  the  Apostle 
effectually  guards  against  any  distortion  of  his 
teaching  into  a  denial  of  Christian  equality.  Sub 
ordination  is  one  thing,  inferiority  is  another.  The 
one  touches  the  order  of  life,  the  other  the  nature 
of  men.  Variety  of  function  entails  no  inequality 
of  dignity.  Loss  of  dignity  can  only  result  from 
failure  to  perform  specific  function.  This  was 
S.  Chrysostom's  answer  to  the  champion  of  those 
women's  rights  which  consist  in  imitating  the  specific 
habits  and  activities  of  men,  and  it  is  the  true 
answer.  "  But  if  any  say,  '  Nay,  how  can  this  be 
a  shame  to  the  women,  if  she  mount  up  to  the 
glory  of  the  man  ? '  we  might  make  this  answer, 
'  She  doth  not  mount  up,  but  rather  falls  from  her 
own  proper  honour.'  Since  not  to  abide  within  our 
own  limits,  and  the  laws  ordained  of  God,  but  to 
go  beyond  is  not  an  addition,  but  a  diminution  .  .  . 
the  woman  acquireth  not  the  man's  dignity,  but 
loseth  even  the  woman's  comeliness.''! 

S.  Paul  makes  appeal  to  nature.  He  points  to 
the  broad  physical  distinction  between  the  sexes, 

*  Cotnmentaire  sur  la  ire  £piirc  aux  Corinthiens,  vol.  ii.  pp.  124-5. 
t  Horn.  XXVI.  in  I  Cor.  (Opera,  x.  p.  272). 


264          APOSTOLIC    CHRISTIANITY 

indicating  distinctiveness  of  function,  and  necessi 
tating  a  distinctive  ordering  of  life,  and  he  insists 
on  respecting  this  natural  dividing  line  between  man 
and  woman.  Herein  surely  he  asserts  a  principle  of 
permanent  importance.  "  Fanaticism  defies  nature  " 
— I  borrow  the  language  of  F.  W.  Robertson — 
"  Christianity  refines  it  and  respects  it.  Christianity 
does  not  denaturalize,  but  only  sanctifies  and  refines 
according  to  the  laws  of  nature.  Christianity  does 
not  destroy  our  natural  instincts,  but  gives  them  a 
higher  and  a  nobler  direction.  .  .  .  And  just  as  the 
white  light  of  heaven  does  not  make  all  things 
white,  but  the  intenser  it  is  so  much  more  intense 
becomes  the  green,  the  blue,  or  the  red  ;  and  just 
as  the  rain  of  heaven  falling  on  tree  and  plant 
develops  the  vigour  of  each — every  tree  and  herb 
'yielding  seed  after  his  kind' ;  and  just  as  leaven 
does  not  change  the  mass  into  something  new,  but 
makes  elastic  and  firm  and  springy  that  which  was 
dull  and  heavy  before ;  so  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
develops  each  nation,  sex,  and  individual,  according 
to  their  own  nature,  and  not  the  nature  of  another 
—  making  man  more  manly  and  woman  more 
womanly."* 

There  are  many  causes  at  work  in  modern  society 
tending  to  what  is  called  the  "  emancipation  of 
woman  "  :  in  so  far  as  the  movement  follows  on  the 
lines  of  Christian  principle  it  is  indeed  worthily 
styled  a  movement  of  emancipation.  The  functions 
of  women  more  justly  considered  are  seen  to  be 
more  honourable  and  essential  to  the  well-being  of 

*  Lectures  on  the  Corinthians  >  pp.  192,  193. 


WOMEN  IN  THE  CHURCH  265 

society;  her  fellowship  with  man  in  the  holy 
marriage  bond,  rising  above  the  merely  physical 
union,  is  seen  to  extend  into  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  spheres.  It  becomes  an  equal  comradeship. 
All  this  is  thoroughly  accordant  with  the  Gospel. 
But  the  advocate  of  woman's  emancipation  does 
not  always  take  that  line.  There  is  a  note  of 
contempt  in  the  references  to  woman's  sublimest 
function — motherhood  ;  a  note  of  rebellion  against 
woman's  true  and  normal  relationship — wifehood  ; 
and  that  note  is  thoroughly  anti-Christian.  What 
soever  proceeds  on  the  theory  that  woman  is  man's 
true,  equal,  honourable  partner  in  bearing  the  strange 
burden  of  existence  has  its  roots  in  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  Christ  Whatsoever  proceeds  on  the  theory 
that  woman  is  man's  rival,  meeting  him  on  terms  of 
competition  in  every  sphere  that  is  his,  and  repudi 
ating  as  far  as  possible  the  inexorably  marked  limits 
of  the  sphere  that  is  her  own,  ministers  ultimately 
not  to  the  enfranchisement,  but  to  the  degradation 
of  woman. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
APOSTOLIC   FINANCE 

WE  had  occasion  to  observe  in  an  earlier  chapter 
that  the  Apostolic  Church  found  ready  to 
hand  both  in  Jewish  and  in  heathen  society  models 
of  association  upon  which  it  might  fashion  its  polity. 
It  is,  I  think,  sufficiently  evident  that  in  the  organiza 
tion  of  finance  the  Apostles  adopted  arrangements 
then  existing  in  the  world,  and  already  familiar  to 
their  converts.  Externally  the  Christian  communities 
wore  the  aspect  of  those  associations  for  almost  every 
conceivable  purpose,  secular  and  religious,  with  which 
the  Roman  law  was  well  acquainted. 

"  They  had  the  same  names  for  their  meetings,  and 
some  of  the  same  names  for  their  officers.  The  basis 
of  association,  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other,  was  the 
profession  of  a  common  religion.  The  members,  in 
the  one  case  as  in  the  other,  contributed  to  or 
received  from  a  common  fund,  and  in  many  cases, 
if  not  universally,  shared  in  a  common  meal. 
Admission  was  open  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other, 
not  only  to  free-born  citizens,  but  to  women  and 
strangers,  to  freedmen  and  slaves,"* 

*  HATCH,  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  30. 
266 


APOSTOLIC   FINANCE  267 

The  Church  in  those  first  days  needed  considerable 
funds  in  order  to  meet  her  normal  expenditure. 
Putting  together  the  scattered  notices  of  the  Epistles, 
we  learn  that  this  normal  expenditure  fell  under  five 
heads : — 

(1)  The  maintenance  of  the  ministry. 

(2)  Hospitality. 

(3)  Maintenance  of  widows. 

(4)  Relief  of  the  poor. 

(5)  Assistance  to  the  persecuted. 

I.  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  from  the 
first  it  has  been  held  to  be  indispensable  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  Church  that  the  task  of  ministry  should 
be  entrusted  to  a  class  of  official  teachers,  who,  laying 
aside  other  occupations,  should  make  that  task  the 
business  of  their  lives.  The  provision  for  the  main 
tenance  of  these  persons,  thus  excluded  from  the 
ordinary  employments  by  which  men  ^are  sustained, 
has  necessarily  been  a  first  charge  on  the  resources 
of  the  Church.  S.  Paul  insists  on  "  the  right"  of 
Christian  ministers  to  their  maintenance.  "Have 
we  no  right  to  eat  and  to  drink?"*  he  asks.  They 
are  workers,  and,  as  such,  entitled  to  their  hire ; 
they  are  ministers  of  religion,  and,  as  such,  entitled 
to  "have  their  portion  with  the  altar''  They 
confer  great  benefits  on  the  congregations  to 
whom  they  minister,  and,  as  benefactors,  they  have 
a  claim  on  the  gratitude  of  the  Church.  "  What 
soldier  ever  serveth  at  his  own  charges?  If 
we  sowed  unto  you  spiritual  things,  is  it  a  great 

*  /IT?  otk  t-xpntv  t£owriav  <(>ayclv  /cai  reiv.     I  Cor,  ix.  4. 


268          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

matter  if  we  shall  reap  your  carnal  things  ?  Know 
ye  not  that  they  which  minister  about  sacred  things 
eat  of  the  things  of  the  temple,  and  they  which  wait 
upon  the  altar  have  their  portion  with  the  altar?"* 

These  reasons  and  analogies  might  suffice,  but  in 
this  case  they  are  but  the  slighter  part  of  the  argu 
ment.  The  maintenance  of  the  clergy  is  expressly 
commanded  by  Jesus  Christ.  "  Even  so  did  the  Lord 
ordain  that  they  which  proclaim  the  Gospel  should 
live  of  the  Gospel" f 

But  the  justice  of  the  claim  could  not  exorcise  its 
inherent  peril.  The  devotion  of  the  faithful  facili 
tated  the  degradation  of  the  clergy.  There  is  a 
melancholy  suggestiveness  about  the  constant  warn 
ings  against  '''filthy  lucre  "  which  are  addressed  to  the 
clergy. \  To  many,  even  in  that  age,  "godliness"  had 
come  to  commend  itself  as  "a  way  of  gain"  That 
is  not  to  say  that  the  clergy  were  worse  than  other 
men,  but  that,  being  dedicated  to  the  service  of 

*  i  Cor.  ix.  13.  This  parallel  between  the  Jewish  priesthood  and 
the  Christian  ministry  is  very  suggestive  of  a  clear  and  coherent 
doctrine  of  "Holy  Orders."  It  is  easy  to  make  too  much  of  this ;  but 
at  present,  in  some  quarters,  there  seems  a  disposition  to  make  too 
little. 

t  I  Cor.  ix.  14.  oirrws  Kal  6  Kvpios  ditra£ev  rots  rb  cvayytXiov 
KarayyAXourni'  e/c  TOU  eua77eX£ou  ^rfv. 

J  Cf.  S.  Paul's  words  to  the  Ephesian  presbyters,  Acts  xx.  33,  and 
the  qualification  for  a  "bishop"  in  I  Tim.  iii.  3,  "  no  lover  of  money," 
d(pi\dpyvpov :  for  a  "deacon,"  ibid.  8,  "not  greedy  of  filthy  lucre," 
IJLT]  aiaxpoKfpdeu.  The  Apostle's  earnest  warning  against  "the  love 
of  money "  seems  to  be  suggested  by  covetous  religious  teachers.  S. 
Peter  also  exhorts  the  presbyters  against  base  motives  of  action. 
' '  Tend  the  flock  of  God  which  is  among  you,  exercising  the  oversight, 
not  of  constraint,  but  willingly,  according  unto  God  ;  nor  yet  for  filthy 
lucre,  but  of  a  ready  mind."  (i  Peter  v.  2.) 


APOSTOLIC   FINANCE  269 

eternity,  they  yet  were  as  the  rest  of  men,  whose 
business  is  directly  with  the  things  of  this  world. 
There  is  only  one  thing  more  repulsive  than  a 
coveteous,  worldly  clergyman,  and  that  is  the 
coveteous,  worldly  layman  who  denounces  him,  and 
glows  with  a  spurious  moral  zeal  in  the  performance. 
The  clergyman's  sacred  profession  neither  alters  his 
nature  nor  diminishes  his  temptations.  It  but  adds 
immensely  to  his  responsibilities,  and  enhances  the 
gravity  of  his  failures.  The  Church  is  bound  to 
"  maintain "  the  clergy  in  such  wise  that  they  are 
enabled  to  do  their  work  efficiently,  beyond  that  the 
precedent  of  the  Apostolic  Church  does  not  advance.* 
II.  The  duty  of  hospitality  is  frequently  insisted  on 
in  the  Epistles.  "  In  love  of  the  brethren  be  tenderly 
affectioned  one  to  another  .  .  .  communicating  to  the 
necessities  of  the  saints ;  given  to  hospitality  "\  "Let 
love  of  the  brethren  continue.  Forget  not  to  show  love 
unto  strangers:  for  thereby  some  have  entertained 
angels  unawares'' %  It  is  not  hard  to  understand  the 
reasons  of  this  insistence.  In  a  literal  sense,  which 
we,  in  these  mild  times,  can  with  difficulty  imagine, 
Christians  were  then  "pilgrims  and  strangers  in  the 
world"  They  were  thrown  back  on  themselves  for 
the  good  offices  of  society  which  their  pagan  neigh- 

*  Let  it  be  remembered  that  ministerial  efficiency  is  not  secured 
when  the  clergy  are  so  poorly  paid  as  to  be  unable  to  purchase  books 
and  sustain  intellectual  interests.  At  this  moment,  partly  owing  to 
poverty,  partly  to  other  causes,  the  Church  of  England  is  threatened 
with  an  ignorant  clergy.  In  our  case  the  mischief  is  particularly  serious 
because  the  professional  training  of  the  English  clergy  is  almost  nil,  and 
they  therefore  depend  for  most  of  their  theological  knowledge  on  their 
studies  after  Ordination. 

t  Rom.  xii.  10,  13.  |  Ileb.  xiii.  I,  2. 


270          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

hours  either  could  not  or  would  not  render.  The 
Christian  "  strangers "  who,  pursuing  their  errands  of 
business  or  pleasure,  passed  to  and  fro  between  the 
great  cities  of  antiquity,  looked  to  the  Church  for 
friendly  entertainment. 

"  Every  one  of  those  strangers  who  bore  the 
Christian  name  had  therein  a  claim  to  hospitality. 
For  Christianity  was,  and  grew  because  it  was,  a 
great  fraternity.  The  name  " brother"  by  which  a 
Jew  addressed  his  fellow-Jew,  came  to  be  the  ordi 
nary  designation  by  which  a  Christian  addressed  his 
fellow- Christian.  It  vividly  expressed  a  real  fact. 
For,  driven  from  city  to  city  by  persecution,  or 
wandering  from  country  to  country  an  outcast  or 
a  refugee,  a  Christian  found,  wherever  he  went  in 
the  community  of  his  fellow-Christians,  a  welcome 
and  hospitality."*  The  generosity  of  the  Church  was 
speedily  abused,  and  precautions  against  imposture 
had  to  be  devised.  The  use  of  "  letters  of  commenda 
tion* 't  was  introduced.  Of  these  we  have  a  specimen 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  "  /  commend  unto  you 
Phcebe  our  sister^  who  is  a  servant  of  the  Church  that 
is  at  Cenchrece,  that  ye  receive  her  in  the  Lord>  worthily 
of  the  saints,  and  that  ye  assist  her  in  whatsoever 
matter  she  may  have  need  of  you  ;  for  she  herself  also 
hath  been  a  succourer  of  'many ',  and  of  mine  own  self"\ 
The  Bishop  was  in  the  early  Church  specially  charged 
with  the  duty  of  organizing  the  hospitality  of  the 
community  over  which  he  presided,  and  the  memory 

*   HATCH,  Bam f  ton  Lectures,  p.  44. 

t  2  Cor.  iii.  I.     ^  ^77  xpyfojj.ev  ti3s  rives  crvtrrartfcuw  crtoroXwi1  TT/OOJ 
u/tas  ^  ££  u/iwi'.  £  Rom.  xvi.  1-3. 


APOSTOLIC   FINANCE  271 

of  the  fact  is  still  perpetuated  in  the  question  ad 
dressed  to  the  Bishop  in  the  Consecration  Service. 
"  Will  you  show  yourself  gentle,  and  be  merciful  for 
Christ's  sake  to  poor  and  needy  people,  and  to  all 
strangers  destitute  of  help  ?  "  In  the  fourth  century 
we  find  "  guest-houses  "  among  the  institutions  of  the 
Church. 

III.  The  maintenance  of  widows  is  proved  by  the 
regulations  on  the  matter  contained  in  the  pastoral 
Epistles,  and  by  the  account  of  the  institution  of  the 
Seven  Deacons  in  the  sixth  chapter   of  the    Acts, 
"  Let  none  be  enrolled  as  a  widow  under  threescore 
years  old,   having  been  the  wife  of  one   man,    well- 
reported  of  for  good  works ;    if  she  hath  brought  up 
children,  if  she  hath  used  hospitality  to  strangers,  if 
she  hath  washed  the  saints  feet,  if  she  hath  relieved 
the  afflicted,  if  she  hath  diligently  followed  every  good 
work''  * 

IV.  The  relief  of  the  poor,  at  all  times  a  heavy 
charge,  was  at  intervals  rendered  extremely  burden 
some  by  sudden  and  extensive  calamities.    Such  an  in 
terval  of  special  trial  had  necessitated  the  "collection  " 
frequently  referred  to  in  the  Corinthian  Epistles.     We 
must  remember  that  poverty  was  at  that  time  exist 
ing  on  a  scale  of  which  we  now  have  no  experience. 
"It  was  the  crisis  of  the  economical  history  of  the 
Western  world.     There  grew  and  multiplied  a  new 
class  in  Graeco-Roman  society — the  class  of  paupers." 
At  a  slightly  later  period  the  Roman   Government 
exerted   itself   with  vigour  to  deal  with    this  class. 
Private  benevolence  seems  to  have  co-operated  with 

*  i  Tim.  v.  9,  io. 


272          APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

the  State ;  but  the  economic  condition  of  the  Roman 
Empire  was  incurably  rotten,  and  all  efforts  were 
unavailing  against  the  decay  of  society  from  within. 

Christianity,  then,  was  born  into  a  world  groaning 
under  the  problem  of  poverty,  and  it  made  special 
appeal  to  the  poverty-stricken  ;  the  Church  became 
their  natural  home.  The  famous  "community  of 
goods,"  of  which  we  read  in  the  Acts,  and  which 
exercises  so  powerful  a  fascination  over  men's  minds 
still,  at  least  testifies  to  the  poverty  of  the  earliest 
converts,  and  the  strenuous  efforts  made  to  relieve 
it.  In  face  of  the  silence  of  the  Epistles,  we  should 
scarcely  be  justified  in  understanding  the  narrative 
in  the  Acts  as  meaning  more  than  an  extraordinary 
outburst  of  liberality.  It  was  a  literal  carrying  out 
by  the  richer  Christians  of  Christ's  counsel  to  the 
young  man  with  great  possessions.  "  If ' thou  wouldest 
be  perfect,  go,  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor, 
and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven;  and  come 
follow  Me'.'  Almsgiving  became  the  most  indis 
pensable  of  Christian  virtues.  Both  S.  James  and 
S.  John  propose  it  as  the  very  test  of  genuine 
discipleship.  "If  a  brother  or  sister  be  naked" — 
writes  the  former,  and  his  words  have  a  particular 
importance  as  emanating  from  the  very  scene  of  the 
so-called '  community  of  goods ' — "  and  in  lack  of  daily 
food,  and  one  of  you  say  unto  them,  Go  in  peace,  be  ye 
warmed  and  filled;  and  yet  ye  give  them  not  the 
things  needful  to  the  body:  what  doth  it  profit?  Even 
so  faith,  if  it  have  not  works,  is  dead  in  itself''* 
"  Whoso  hath  the  worlds  goods  " — writes  the  latter — 

*  James  ii.  15,  16. 


APOSTOLIC   FINANCE  273 

"and  beholdetli  his  brother  in  need,  and  shutteth  iip 
his  compassion  from  him,  how  doth  the  love  of  God 
abide  in  him?"*  The  opinion  of  the  sub- Apostolic 
Church  is  reflected  in  these  words  of  an  anonymous 
writer  of  the  time,  "Fasting  is  better  than  prayer, 
almsgiving  is  better  than  fasting  ;  blessed  is  the  man 
who  is  found  perfect  therein,  for  almsgiving  lightens 
the  weight  of  sin."  f 

V.  Finally,  there  were  the  prisoners  and  other 
victims  of  persecution.  To  these  reference  is  made  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  "Remember  them  that 
are  in  bonds ;  as  bound  with  them;  them  that  are  evil- 
entreated,  as  being  yourselves  also  in  the  body"\ 
Within  the  period  covered  by  the  Epistles  per 
secution  on  any  general  scale  hardly  existed  ;  later, 
when  the  Imperial  Power  had  thrown  itself  into  the 
attempt  to  violently  suppress  the  Christian  religion, 
the  care  for  the  victims  of  persecution  in  the  mines 
and  in  the  prisons,  as  also  of  the  wives  and  children 
deprived  by  the  persecutor  of  their  natural  protectors, 
became  a  matter  of  the  first  importance. 

If  these  were  the  normal  needs,  what  were  the 
normal  sources  of  income?  We  may,  I  think,  dis 
tinguish  three.  In  the  first  place,  were  the  donations 
of  wealthy  members  of  the  Church.  S.  Timothy  is 
specially  bidden  to  stir  up  the  richer  Christians  to 
the  duty  of  munificent  giving. 

*  i  John  iii.  17. 

t  Vide  the  so-called  Second  Epistle  of  Clement,  c.  16.  It  may  be 
regarded  as  "the  earliest  Christian  homily  extant."  Bishop  Lightfoot 
assigns 
century." 

$  xiii.  3. 

T 


274         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

"  Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this  present  world, 
that  they  be  not  high-minded,  nor  have  their  hope  set 
on  the  uncertainty  of  riches,  but  on  God,  who  giveth  us 
richly  all  things  to  enjoy :  that  they  do  good,  that  they 
be  rich  in  good  works,  that  they  be  ready  to  distribute, 
willing  to  communicate;  laying  up  in  store  for  them 
selves  a  good  foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  that 
they  may  lay  hold  on  the  life  which  is  life  indeed?* 
Especially  in  the  first  beginnings  of  the  Church  the 
self-renouncing  bounty  of  rich  converts  would  be 
the  main  financial  resource.  The  occurrences  at 
Jerusalem  were  probably  reproduced  less  conspic 
uously  elsewhere.  "  As  many  as  were  possessors  of 
lands  or  houses  sold  them,  and  brought  the  prices  of  the 
things  that  were  sold,  and  laid  them  at  the  Apostle's 
feet;  and  distribution  was  made  unto  each,  according 
as  anyone  had  need?\  But  in  the  nature  of  things 
this  source  of  income  could  not  permanently  provide 
for  the  needs  of  the  Church.  Rich  enthusiasts,  once 
having  resigned  their  property,  could  henceforth  do 
but  little  to  meet  an  expenditure  which  would  be 
continually  on  the  increase.  The  devotion  of  first 
beginnings  does  not  commonly  survive  them.  As 
the  Church  settled  her  organization  on  a  normal 
basis,  she  had  need  for  another  and  securer  source 
of  income.  This  she  found  in  the  regular  offerings 
of  her  members.  The  collection,  which  originally 
was  suggested  by  the  distress  of  the  famine-stricken 
brethren  in  Judaea,  would  almost  inevitably  develop 
into  a  permanent  institution.  "  Now  concerning  the 
collection  (Xoy/a?)  for  the  saints — writes  S.  Paul — 

*  i  Tim.  vi.  17-19.  t  Acts  iv.  34,  35. 


APOSTOLIC   FINANCE  275 

as  I  gave  order  (Siera^a)  to  the  Churches  of  Galatia, 
so  also  do  ye.  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  let 
each  one  of  you  lay  by  him  (-Trap  eaimo  riOerw)  in 
store,  as  he  may  prosper,  that  no  collections  le  made 
when  I  come.  And  when  I  arrive ',  whomsoever  ye 
shall  approve  by  letters,  them  will  I  send  to  carry  your 
bounty  unto  Jerusalem;  and  if  it  be  meet  for  me  to 
go  also,  they  shall  go  with  me"*  This  passage 
deserves  careful  consideration.  The  object  of  the 
collection  is  first  stated:  it  is  "for  the  saints" ;  in 
the  Roman  Epistle,  where  the  same  matter  is  dealt 
with,  it  is  more  precisely  stated  to  be  "for  the  poor 
among  the  saints  that  are  at  Jerusalem! 't  S.  Paul 
characteristically  places  the  collection  on  a  basis  of 
principle.  The  Jews  had  a  special  claim  on  the 
bounty  of  the  Gentiles.  "For  if  the  Gentiles  have  been 
made  partakers  of  their  spiritual  things,  they  oive  it 
to  them  also  to  minister  unto  them  in  carnal  things" 
Perhaps  we  may  again  recognize  the  influence  of 
his  Rabbinic  training.  We  are  told  that  "  collections 
were  made  among  the  Jews  in  foreign  nations,  for 
the  poor  Rabbins  dwelling  in  Judaea,  in  the  same 
manner  as  they  were  made  among  Christians  in 
foreign  nations  for  the  poor  Jews  converted  to 
Christianity  in  Judaea."  \  Then  the  method  of 
making  the  collection  is  laid  down.  There  is  to 
be  a  weekly  offering  proportioned  to  income  as 
reckoned  by  the  Christian  contributor  in  the  sight  of 
God.  The  gift  must  be  honestly  assessed,  willingly 
given.  "Let  each  man  do  according  as  he  hath 

*  I  Cor.  xvi.  1-4.  f  Rom.  xv.  26. 

t  Vide  J.  LIGHTFOOT,  Works  t  vol.  xii.  p.  556.     London,  1825. 


276         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

purposed  in  his  heart,  not  grudgingly  or  of  necessity, 
for  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver''*  The  Apostle 
insists  on  the  religious  solemnity  of  these  weekly 
contributions.  It  does  not  seem  clear  whether  the 
Corinthians  were  to  bring  their  weekly  offerings 
into  the  assembly,  and  there  present  them,  or  lay 
them  by  at  home  against  the  Apostle's  arrival.  In 
the  next  century  the  collection  was,  as  it  is  still, 
publicly  made  at  the  Holy  Communion.  S.  Justin 
describes  it  in  these  words,  which  will  serve  to 
illustrate  what  we  have  said  as  to  the  expenditure 
of  the  Church  :- 

"  On  the  so-called  day  of  the  Sun  there  is  a 
meeting  of  all  of  us  who  live  in  cities  or  the  country, 
and  the  memoirs  of  the  Apostles  or  the  writings  of 
the  prophets  are  read,  as  long  as  time  allows.  Then 
when  the  reader  has  ceased,  the  president  gives  by 
word  of  mouth  his  admonition  and  exhortation  to 
follow  these  excellent  things.  Afterwards  we  all 
rise  at  once  and  offer  prayers  ;  and,  as  I  said,  when 
we  have  ceased  to  pray,  bread  is  brought,  and  wine 
and  water,  and  the  president  likewise  offers  up 
prayers  and  thanksgivings  to  the  best  of  his  power, 
and  the  people  assents  with  its  Amen.  Then  follows 
the  distribution  to  each  and  the  partaking  of  that 
for  which  thanks  were  given,  and  to  them  that  are 
absent  a  portion  is  sent  by  the  hand  of  the  deacons. 
Of  those  that  are  well-to-do  and  willing  every  one 
gives  what  he  will  according  to  his  own  purpose, 
and  the  collection  is  deposited  with  the  president, 
and  he  it  is  that  succours  orphans  and  widows,  and 

*  2  Cor.  ix.  7. 


APOSTOLIC    FINANCE  277 

those  that  are  in  want  through  sickness  or  any  other 
cause,  and  those  that  are  in  bonds,  and  the  strangers 
that  are  sojourning,  and  in  short  he  has  the  care  of 
all  that  are  in  need."  (Apol.  i.  c.  67.)  This  passage 
was  written  rather  less  than  a  century  after  S.  Paul 
wrote  the  Corinthian  Epistles,  and  it  may  be  taken 
to  represent  fairly  the  practice  of  the  sub- Apostolic 
Church. 

It  is  eminently  deserving  notice  how  carefully  the 
Apostle  provides  for  the  efficient  administration  of 
the  money  collected.  The  Corinthians  are  to  elect 
persons  in  whom  they  had  confidence,  and  to  these 
the  charge  of  the  money  is  to  be  entrusted.  S.  Paul 
will  not  run  any  risks  of  suspicion  which  has  even 
a  semblance  of  justification.  "  Whomsoever  ye  shall 
approve  by  letters,  them  will  I  send  to  carry  your 
bounty  to  Jerusalem''  He  states  the  principle  on 
which  he  acted  in  the  second  Epistle,  "  avoiding  this, 
that  any  man  should  blame  us  in  the  matter  of  this 
bounty  which  is  ministered  by  us :  for  we  take  thought 
for  things  honourable,  not  only  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord> 
but  also  in  the  sight  of  men''*  It  had  been  well  for 
the  Church  if  this  Apostolic  principle  had  been 
allowed  to  govern  her  finance.  Unhappily  the 
precise  contrary  has  been  the  case.  Ecclesiastical 
finance  is  commonly  a  by-word  among  business  men 
for  incompetence,  extravagance,  and  a  species  of 
unctuous  dishonesty.  That  this  impression  rather 
represents  the  past  than  the  present  is,  I  think, 
certain ;  the  system  on  which  the  special  funds 
(for  the  rest  is  in  chaos)  of  the  Church  are  now 

*  2  Cor.  viii.  20,  21. 


2/8         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

managed  is  framed  on  business  models,  and  often 
administered  by  able  men  of  business.  But  as 
much  cannot  be  said  for  the  countless  semi-religious 
schemes  of  benevolence,  which  raise  and  expend 
immense  sums  of  money.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  man 
who  cares  for  the  good  name  of  religion  and  the 
interest  of  philanthropy  to  withhold  support  from 
all  financially  unsatisfactory  projects  of  piety  or 
benevolence.  The  greatest  possible  publicity  ought 
always  to  attach  to  the  management  of  public  funds. 
Unhappily  the  finance  of  the  Church  is  still  to  the 
mass  of  men  a  veiled  and  suspected  mystery.  The 
most  vigilant  guard  should  be  maintained  against 
anything  which  can  wound  consciences  or  provoke 
contemptuous  criticism.  Now  the  clergy,  in  their 
efforts  to  raise  funds  for  Church  work,  are  everywhere 
emulating  the  arts  of  the  cheap-jack  and  the  ad 
vertising  agent  We  can  imagine  the  indignant 
amazement  with  which  S.  Paul  would  have  con 
templated  a  modern  bazaar.  What  words  of  strong 
scorn  would  have  rushed  from  his  lips !  It  may 
fairly  be  questioned  whether  the  Church  would  not 
better  fulfil  her  mission  by  worshipping  again,  as 
at  the  first,  in  private  houses  and  beneath  the  open 
heaven,  than  by  so  degrading  herself  in  order  to 
raise  money  for  costly  fabrics.  But  the  blame  must 
not  fall  on  the  clergy  alone.  Let  blame  fall  on  them 
in  the  first  place,  but  let  some  censure  be  reserved 
for  the  Christian  laity,  whose  languid  zeal  for  Christ 
will  not  be  moved  to  action  without  the  excitement 
of  sham-commerce  and  the  stimulus  of  real  folly. 
Finally,  I  think,  it  is  not  excessive  to  suppose  that, 


APOSTOLIC   FINANCE  279 

at  least  in  Jewish  circles,  the  resident  ministry  were 
held  to  succeed  to  the  claim  of  the  Mosaic  priesthood 
in  the  matter  of  "  tithes  and  first-fruits"  It  is  possible, 
perhaps  probable,  that  this  claim  only  obtained 
practical  recognition  after  the  destruction  of  Jeru 
salem,  and  the  practical  abolition  of  Judaism  which 
that  tremendous  catastrophe  involved.  In  any  case 
The  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  is  evidence  of 
the  claim  in  the  sub-Apostolic  Church. 

"  But  every  true  prophet  who  wishes  to  settle 
among  you  is  worthy  of  his  food. 

"  Likewise  a  true  teacher  is  himself  worthy,  like 
the  workman  of  his  food. 

"  Therefore  thou  shalt  take  and  give  all  the  first 
fruit  of  the  produce  of  the  wine-press  and  threshing- 
floor,  of  oxen  and  sheep,  to  the  prophets,  for  they 
are  your  chief  priests. 

"  But  if  ye  have  no  prophets,  give  to  the  poor."* 

The  financial  aspect  of  ministerial  claims  is  not 
the  highest  or  noblest  aspect  of  the  subject,  but 
it  is  an  aspect  which  cannot  be  wholly  ignored. 
I  am  not  one  of  those  who  pitch  the  financial 
standard  very  high.  Maintenance  does  not  mean 
more  than  maintenance,  though  that  must  (unless 
the  efficiency  of  the  clergy  is  to  diminish)  include 
provision  for  intellectual  as  well  as  merely  physical 
needs.  I  have  ventured  to  urge  in  season,  and  (as 
some  might  say)  out  of  season,  the  urgent  need  for 
more  simplicity  of  life  and  self-restraint  among  the 
clergy.  No  one  will  accuse  me  of  an  excessive 
ardour  for  clerical  privileges  and  clerical  rights. 

*  Chap.  xiii. 


280         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY  . 

Therefore,  perhaps,  I  may  be  permitted  to  point  to 
the  spiritual  mischiefs  which  are  plainly  resulting 
from  clerical  poverty,  and  which  must  become  worse 
as  time  advances.  Is  it  nothing  that  the  ambassadors 
of  heaven  are  broken  down  with  domestic  anxieties, 
that  teachers  should  be  distracted  by  the  menace  of 
want,  that  Christ's  witnesses  should  be  too  poor  to  be 
brave,  too  dependent  to  be  faithful  ? 

Let  it  be  frankly  admitted  that  the  clergy  at  their 
Ordination  ought  to  renounce,  and  ought  to  be  under 
stood  to  have  renounced  what,  in  common  parlance, 
are  called  "  professional  prospects."  I  resent  very 
strongly  those  comparisons  between  the  Church  and 
the  "  other  professions,"  which  imply  the  claim  of  the 
clergyman  to  regard  his  sacred  calling  as  a  means  of 
money-making  in  the  same  sense  as  is  legitimate  and 
right  in  the  case  of  the  lawyer  or  the  doctor.  I  think 
the  clergyman  should  have  as  few  domestic  ties  as 
possible.  Improvident  marriages  are  doubly  blame 
worthy  in  a  clergyman,  and  the  laity  who  encourage 
or  excuse  such  marriages  offend  against  the  best 
interests  of  the  Church.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  the 
case  is  yet  stronger  for  the  maintenance  of  the  clergy 
in  physical  and  mental  efficiency.  An  inefficient 
clergy  is  manifestly  a  grave  injury  to  religion.  And 
an  underbred,  uneducated,  I  might  even  say  in  view 
of  the  facts  which  have  come  to  light  recently,  an 
underfed  and  underclothed  clergy,  must  be  an  in 
efficient  clergy.  The  ultimate  sufferer  is  the  Church 
herself.  It  is  surely  a  time  when  every  Christian 
ought  to  examine  his  own  conscience  on  the  subject. 
Tithes  and  first-fruits  are  for  most  modern  church- 


APOSTOLIC   FINANCE  281 

men  a  name  and  nothing  more.  The  dwindling  rent- 
charge  which  endows  some  of  the  parishes  takes 
nothing  out  of  any  man's  pocket  save  in  a  sense 
that  is  true  of  every  lawful  due.  But  the  duty  to 
regularly  contribute  according  to  income  rests  on 
every  disciple,  and  to  neglect  that  duty  must  inflict 
on  the  negligent  or  niggardly  Christian  grave  spiritual 
loss.  The  time  has  come  in  the  Church  of  England 
for  plain  speaking  on  the  subject.  Unless  there  is 
a  general  and  speedy  awakening  of  the  Christian 
conscience,  and,  as  a  result,  a  large  increase  in  the 
regular  contributions  of  churchmen  to  the  income 
of  the  Church,  it  is  as  certain  as  any  future  event  can 
be,  that  within  the  next  generation  the  area  of 
Christian  work  will  be  seriously  contracted,  and  its 
quality  gravely,  if  not  irreparably  injured. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
CONCLUSIONS 

THE  first  impression  left  on  the  mind  by  an 
inquiry  into  the  Christianity  of  the  Apostolic 
age  is  probably  one  of  unpleasant  surprise.  Most 
men  appeal  to  the  New  Testament  in  the  interest 
either  of  their  own  system  of  faith  and  order  or  of 
their  denunciation  of  all  existing  systems.  The 
advocates  of  a  system  will  hardly  be  satisfied  with 
the  witness  of  the  Apostolic  age ;  the  advocates  of 
individualism  will  hardly  be  satisfied  either.  There 
was  a  very  vigorous  Church  system  in  the  Apostolic 
age,  but  it  was  very  unlike  any  system  with  which 
we  are  acquainted.  This  unlikeness  of  original 
Christianity  to  any  modern  counterpart  is  not  wholly 
to  the  disadvantage  of  our  own  time.  The  Apos 
tolic  Church  as  revealed  in  the  Corinthian  Epistles 
was  far  indeed  from  perfection.  Gross  moral  scandals 
existed ;  the  members  were  by  no  means  free  from 
the  spirit  of  rivalry  and  hatred  ;  the  "  unity  of  the 
Body  of  Christ"  was  more  apparent  than  real. 
There  was  much  superstition  even  in  those  first 
days,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  sufficient 
parallel  in  subsequent  ages  to  the  shocking  profanities 

282 


CONCLUSIONS  283 

which  marked  the  Corinthian  Eucharist*  Those 
who  expect  to  find  their  ecclesiastical  ideal  in  the 
Apostolic  age  will  be  rudely  disappointed.  It  is, 
indeed,  often  the  case  that  uninstructed  students, 
reading  the  New  Testament  with  little  understanding 
of  its  contents,  are  apt  to  think  of  that  period  as 
a  golden  age,  which  provokes  the  envy  while  it 
rebukes  the  corruptions  of  all  succeeding  times. 
The  intelligent  student,  however,  will  escape  that 
error. 

The  habitual  assumption  of  ecclesiastical  advocates, 
that  the  Church  of  Christ  started  on  its  history  with 
a  complete  equipment  of  organization,  of  which, 
forsooth,  their  own  system — Papal,  or  Episcopalian, 
or  Congregational  or  the  like — is  the  sole  existing 
representative,  is  disallowed  by  a  serious  study  of 
Apostolic  Christianity.  We  see  a  Church  in  the 
process  of  reaching  an  organization,  and  we  mark 
the  pressure  of  circumstances  as  the  principal  ex 
ternal  agent  in  that  process.  We  see  that  while 
most  later  polities  can  find  their  germs  in  the 
Apostolic  Church,  none  can  find  their  model.  The 
authority  of  original  Christianity  cannot  be  un 
reservedly  claimed  on  behalf  of  any  existing  Church 

*  The  nearest  parallel  I  can  think  of  is  the  Test  Act  Communion 
of  the  last  century,  the  evil  effects  of  which  are  still  perceptible. 
I  attribute  to  the  disgust  provoked  in  pious  minds  by  that  official 
profanation  of  the  Eucharist  the  powerful  but  unreasoning  reluctance 
of  many  excellent  and  in  all  other  respects  Christian  men  to  receive 
the  Holy  Sacrament.  They  unconsciously  perpetuate  the  notion,  which 
had  but  too  much  justification  a  century  ago,  that  "going  to  the  table" 
was  the  mark  of  the  loose  liver  and  the  mere  worldling  ;  argued,  in  fact, 
a  low  level  of  spiritual  sincerity. 


284         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

order.     It  must  suffice  that  that  authority  is  friendly, 
or  at  least  not  adverse. 

Of  two  opposing  conceptions  of  the  Church,  I 
venture  to  affirm  that  they  are  condemned  by  the 
witness  of  Apostolic  Christianity.  The  modern 
Roman  theory,  which  bases  unity  on  common 
obedience  to  a  visible,  earthly  Head,  is  not  merely 
ignored,  but  also  positively  contradicted  by  the 
New  Testament.  That  S.  Paul  should  denounce 
the  schismatic  tendencies  of  his  Corinthian  converts, 
that  he  should  urge  the  sinfulness  of  division  and 
dilate  on  the  unity  of  the  Church  as  Christ's  Body, 
and  should  never  so  much  as  hint  at  the  existence 
of  any  centre  of  unity,  Divinely  provided  in  the 
person  of  S.  Peter  and  his  successors,  is  sufficient 
proof  that  he  himself  had  no  knowledge  that  any 
such  existed.  This,  however,  is  not  all ;  his  doctrine 
about  the  Church  precludes  the  existence  of  any 
visible  centre  of  unity.  What  room  can  be  found 
for  the  Roman  doctrine  in  such  a  passage  as  this, 
in  which  the  Apostle  specifically  declares  the  con 
stituents  of  the  Church's  unity,  "  There  is  one  body, 
and  one  Spirit,  even  as  also  ye  were  called  in  one  hope 
of  your  calling :  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one 
God  and  Father  of  all,  Who  is  over  all,  and  through 
a!/,  and  in  all."*  It  is  no  answer  to  my  contention 
to  adduce  the  verse  in  the  Gospel  in  which  our 
Saviour  declared  that  He  would  build  His  Church 
on  S.  Peter,  or  on  S.  Peter's  faith,  or  on  S.  Peter's 
confession  (for  the  verse  has  never  been  unanimously 
understood,  and  probably  never  will  be).  My  purpose 

*  Eph.  iv.  4. 


CONCLUSIONS  285 

in  this  volume  has  been,  apart  from  all  prejudice,  to 
see  what  the  Apostolic  Church  was,  and  what  it 
believed.  The  Gospels  give  place  to  the  Epistles  in 
that  inquiry.  You  may  make  what  you  will  of 
Christ's  words  to  S.  Peter,  I  point  out  to  you  that 
in  the  Apostolic  age  nobody  suspected  that  they 
carried  the  modern  Roman  sense.* 

Further,  the  notion  of  an  invisible  Church,  which 
has  no  necessary  Sacraments  and  no  Divinely  ordered 
ministry  (which  is  essentially  the  doctrine  of  the 
Plymouth  Brethren  and  the  Quakers),  finds  no 
support  in  the  Apostolic  age.  The  ministry  and 
the  Sacraments  evidently  held  a  great  place  in  the 
Christianity  of  the  Apostles.  To  go  no  farther  than 
the  Corinthian  Epistles,  it  is  plain  that  a  Christianity 
which  dispenses  with  an  ordained  ministry,  and 
despises  visible  Sacraments,  would  have  seemed  a 
strange  thing  both  to  the  Corinthians  and  to  the 
Apostle.  The  circumstances  of  the  Corinthian 
Church  led  S.  Paul  to  speak  at  some  length  on  the 
character  and  claims  of  the  Christian  ministry,  and 
on  the  awful  dignity  of  the  Sacraments.  To  this 
cause  we  owe  the  careful  teachings  on  those  subjects 
which  mark  his  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians.  Thus 

*  Not  long  ago  I  attended  a  meeting  at  which  Father  Rivington 
ventured  some  courageous  statements  as  to  the  Roman  claims.  Sub 
sequently  I  was  allowed  to  ask  a  question,  and  I  asked  "  Whether 
he  could  name  a  single  passage  in  the  Epistles  which  even  remotely 
suggested  that  the  Apostolic  Church  recognized  any  supremacy  in 
S.  Peter,  such  as  is  assumed  by  modern  Roman  Catholics?"  He 
replied,  "The  Gospels  are  quite  sufficient  for  me."  Of  course,  the 
whole  issue  is  what  the  Petrine  texts  in  the  Gospels  really  mean ;  and 
in  deciding  that  issue  the  silence  of  the  Epistles  is  absolutely  decisive 
so  far  as  the  Roman  interpretation  is  concerned. 


286         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

of  the  ministry,  "  Let  a  man  so  account  of  us,  as  of 
ministers  of  Christ,  and  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of 
God"  "  God  hath  set  some  in  the  Church,  first 
Apostles,  secondly  prophets,  thirdly  teachers?  "Even 
so  did  the  Lord  ordain  that  they  which  preach  the 
gospel  should  live  of  the  Gospel?  If  S.  Paul  was 
right  in  thus  maintaining  that  the  regular  Christian 
ministry  had  a  Divine  institution,  was  responsible  to 
God  alone,  and  by  Christ's  express  commandment 
was  maintained  by  the  Church  in  order  to  confine 
itself  to  its  sacred  work,  then  it  seems  evident  that 
the  Plymouth  Brother  is  wrong  in  rejecting  that 
ministry. 

So  of  the  Sacraments,  they  are  essential  to  the 
Christianity  of  S.  Paul.  "/#  one  Spirit  were  we 
all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks, 
whether  bond  or  free."  Nor  can  the  notion  that  the 
Apostle  refers  to  some  wholly  inward  experience  be 
entertained  for  one  moment.  When  he  indignantly 
asks  the  Corinthians,  "  Were  ye  baptized  into  the  name 
of  Paul?"  he  is  clearly  referring  to  their  public 
Baptism  into  the  Divine  Name.  When  he  says  to 
them,  "  Ye  were  washed,  ye  were  sanctified,  ye  were 
justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in 
the  Spirit  of  our  God"  he  is  plainly  pointing  them 
back  to  that  solemn  moment  of  their  Baptism,  when 
they  were  admitted  into  Christ's  Church,  and  began 
their  new  life  of  discipleship.  Of  the  Holy  Com 
munion  S.  Paul  had  to  speak  much,  for  the  worst 
abuses  of  the  Corinthians  had  gathered  round  that 
Sacrament.  Their  divisions  and  their  sensuality 
argued  a  strange  contempt  of  that  which  Christ 


CONCLUSIONS  287 

instituted  as  the  bond  of  unity  and  the  means  of 
purifying  grace. 

"  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not  a 
communion  of  the  Blood  of  Christ?  The  bread  which 
we  break,  is  it  not  a  communion  of  the  Body  of  Christ? 
seeing  that  we,  who  are  many,  are  one  bread,  one  body ; 
for  we  all  partake  of  the  one  bread''  S.  Paul  rehearses 
the  institution  of  the  Eucharist,  and  then  declares 
the  meaning  of  the  Sacrament.  "  For  as  often  as 
ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink  the  cup,  ye  proclaim  the 
Lords  death  till  He  come"  It  is,  I  think,  manifest 
that  those  modern  Christians — whether  Quakers  or 
Salvationists,  or  howsoever  called — who  reject  the 
Sacraments  are  acting  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
Apostolic  Church. 

Our  inquiries  will,  on  the  whole,  make  us  very 
tolerant  of  diversities  of  religious  practice,  so  long 
as  they  do  not  involve  any  offence  against  essential 
Christianity.  We  shall  hold  somewhat  lightly  by 
ecclesiastical  customs,  however  venerable  and  con 
venient  ;  and  certainly  we  shall  be  vigilant  against 
claiming  for  them  an  authority  which  they  do  not 
really  possess.  But  we  shall  take  a  very  grave  view 
of  any  conduct  which  tends  to  break  up  the  unity 
of  the  Church.  Especially  shall  we  deprecate  the 
notion  that  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  or 
not  Christians  come  together  for  common  worship. 
We  shall  be  very  sceptical  of  a  unity  which  can 
rest  content  with  breaches  of  external  communion  ; 
but  we  shall  not  exaggerate  the  real  value  of  an 
external  unity.  The  schismatical  spirit  within  the 
Corinthian  Church  had  not  actually  broken  up  the 


288         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

visible  fellowship,  but  it  had  robbed  that  fellowship 
of  meaning.  The  schismatical  spirit,  which  at  bottom 
is  the  spirit  of  mere  self-assertion,  the  very  opposite 
of  that  fraternal  spirit  which  should  inspire  the 
family  of  God,  may  co-exist  with  a  very  strong 
sense  of  the  importance  of  external  unity.  The 
only  effectual  remedy  for  that  besetting  malady  is 
the  cultivation  of  the  Divine  virtue  of  love  or  charity. 
We  observe  in  the  Apostolic  Church  that  the  ten 
dency  which  we  may  call  Congregationalism  was 
powerful,  and  that  it  was  steadily  resisted  by 
S.  Paul.  The  Church  cannot  be  limited  to  a  place 
or  a  nation ;  the  general  practice  and  belief  of 
Christians  constitute  an  authority  which  must  not 
be  ignored  or  lightly  resisted. 

Our  inquiry  will  certainly  have  helped  us  to  get 
a  just  perspective  of  Christianity.  We  can  see  that 
the  essence  of  Christ's  Religion  was,  in  the  first  days, 
believed  to  consist  pre-eminently  in  an  honest  service 
of  a  living  Master  and  Lord.  Doctrines  which,  in 
later  times,  have  been  made  the  tests  of  Christian 
fellowship  were  then  unknown.  It  is  not  necessarily 
to  be  inferred  that  such  doctrines  are  false.  They 
may  be,  and  in  some  cases  plainly  are,  inevitably 
developed  products  of  the  earlier  stage.  But  in  some 
cases  the  attitude  and  spirit  of  the  Apostolic  Church 
are  plainly  incompatible  with  the  later  doctrines. 
To  give  but  two  sufficient  examples :  The  Roman 
teaching  about  the  Virgin  Mary  cannot  be  reconciled 
with  the  New  Testament.  The  position  of  woman 
in  the  Church  was  a  subject  of  urgent  concern  at 
Corinth.  S.  Paul  was  directly  requested  to  deal 


CONCLUSIONS  289 

with  it ;  and  he  does  so  in  the  first  Corinthian 
Epistle  with  great  care.  Is  it  conceivable  that  if 
he  had  held  the  modern  Roman  view  of  S.  Mary 
he  could  have  totally  excluded  her  name  from  his 
argument?  In  the  Epistles  to  the  Romans  and 
the  Galatians  S.  Paul  treats  at  length  of  the  Redemp 
tion.  He  draws  out  the  famous  parallel  between  the 
first  Adam  and  the  second  ;  but  never  once  does  he 
make  any  more  specific  reference  to  S.  Mary  than 
the  general  statement  that  Christ  was  "  born  of  a 
woman''  Is  it  conceivable  that  the  Apostle  could 
have  thus  avoided  all  direct  mention  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  if  he  had  believed  her  to  be,  as  modern 
Roman  preachers  declare,  the  "  second  Eve,"  the 
sinless  Mother  of  the  new  creation  ?  The  present 
Pope  has  recently  informed  us  that  to  hope  for 
salvation  without  praying  for  S.  Mary's  help  is  as 
reasonable  as  to  seek  to  fly  without  wings.  Is  it 
not  answer  enough  to  point  to  these  Epistles, 
wherein  the  whole  subject  of  salvation  is  discussed 
by  Apostles,  and  where  S.  Mary's  name  is  never 
once  mentioned?  Apostolic  Christianity  was  inno 
cent  of  Mariolatry. 

My  other  instance  is  of  another  kind.  There 
are  numerous  Christians  who  maintain  that  a  true 
believer  can  never  fail  of  salvation ;  some  would 
also  say  that  he  can  never  fall  into  sin.  Such 
teaching  is  condemned  by  an  appeal  to  Apostolic 
Christianity.  What  meaning  could  attach  to  the 
earnest  and  anxious  warnings  with  which  the 
Epistles  are  filled  if  they  to  whom  those  Epistles 
were  addressed  neither  did  sin,  nor  could  sin  ?  It 
U 


290         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

is  evident  on  the  face  of  the  New  Testament,  that 
the  Christians  whose  spiritual  state  is  therein  dis 
played  were  men  to  whom  discipleship  meant  no 
abrupt  and  easy  passage  from  sin  to  holiness,  but 
rather  men  who  were  committed  to  a  sustained  and 
difficult  conflict  with  evil,  who  often  failed,  who 
sometimes  failed  scandalously  and  even  irrecoverably, 
but  who  never  lost  the  sense  of  conflict,  as  the  very 
first  consequence  of  their  Christian  profession.  The 
student  of  Apostolic  Christianity  will  have  learned 
nothing  if  he  has  not  learned  this.  To  be  a  Christian 
before  all  things  meant  to  live  righteously,  to  bring 
life  under  the  government  of  Christ's  Law,  to  act 
with  habitual  reference  to  Christ's  return  to  judgment. 
The  Apostolic  age  had  its  difficult  problems ;  they 
were  not  precisely  the  same  problems  as  those  which 
face  men  now,  but  they  were  certainly  not  less  grave 
and  perplexing.  They  were  solved — not  easily,  not 
without  preliminary  essays  at  solution  which  failed, 
never  without  much  effort  and  anxiety.  For  the 
Apostolic  age  was  pre-eminently  the  age  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Christians  lived,  and  acted,  and  made 
decisions,  and  tried  experiments,  and  started  institu 
tions,  and  shaped  their  whole  religious  polity  under 
the  overmastering  conviction  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
was  living  in  the  Church  and  governing  it.  Here 
is  the  real  superiority  of  Apostolic  Christianity.  In 
spite  of  many  faults  and  much  scandal  it  was  a 
genuinely  spiritual  thing.  The  very  extravagances, 
which  S.  Paul  rebukes,  reveal  the  ardour  of  Christian 
enthusiasm  and  the  strength  of  Christian  conviction. 
To  the  Apostolic  Church,  perhaps,  we  may  apply  the 


CONCLUSIONS  291 

words  which  Christ  spoke  of  the  penitent  woman  in 
the  Pharisee's  house,  "  Her  sins,  which  are  many,  are 
forgiven  :  for  she  loved  much!'  Love  to  Jesus  Christ, 
necessarily  expressing  itself  in  love  towards  the 
brethren  and  towards  all  men,  was  the  vital  prin 
ciple  of  Apostolic  Christianity.  "  If  any  man  loveth 
not  the  Lord,  let  him  be  anathema"  Those  first 
Christians  lived  almost  in  the  shadow  of  the  Cross  of 
Calvary,  on  which  the  measureless  love  of  Christ  had 
been  displayed,  and  their  Christianity  drew  its  energy 
from  the  fact.  S.  Paul  tells  us  that  he  found  in  the 
"  Word  of  the  Cross"  the  one  prevailing  argument. 
At  Corinth  especially  he  had  proved  its  power. 
"  /  determined  not  to  know  anything  among  you, 
save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified!'  so  he  sum 
marizes  his  preaching  to  the  Corinthians.  He  can 
not,  of  course,  mean  that  throughout  his  eighteen 
months'  stay  in  Corinth  he  never  spoke  of  anything 
save  of  Christ's  death.  We  can  gather  from  the 
Epistles  that  his  teaching  covered  the  whole  field 
of  faith  and  conduct,  but  he  means  that  the  inspiring 
motive  which  he  always  proposed,  the  basis  of  all  his 
doctrine,  the  consideration  which  he  always  urged 
was  this :  Jesus  Christ's  love  for  sinners  shown  by  the 
Crucifixion.  He  spoke  with  convincing  force,  for  he 
spoke  from  a  full  heart.  His  own  religion  had  had 
no  other  source ;  his  own  spiritual  conflict  was  waged 
by  no  other  inspiration.  "  For  the  love  of  Christ 
constraineth  us :  because  we  thus  judge,  that  one  died 
for  all,  therefore  all  died:  and  He  died  for  all,  that 
they  which  live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves, 
but  unto  Him  who  for  their  sakes  died  and  rose  again'' 


292         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

He  built  his  appeals  on  this  foundation.  Christian 
liberty  must  yield  to  a  more  pathetic  claim.  "Through 
thy  knowledge  he  that  is  weak  perisheth,  the  brother  for 
whose  sake  Christ  died"  Christian  liberality  must 
flow  at  the  bidding  of  that  August  Example.  "  For 
ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ \  that 
though  He  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  He  became 
poor,  that  ye  through  His  poverty  might  become  rick" 
The  Church  is  venerable  and  sacred,  for  it  is  Christ's 
Body;  the  Holy  Sacrament  is  awful,  for  it  is  the 
Lord's  Supper.  The  clergy  are  clothed  with  au 
thority,  for  they  are  "ambassadors  on  behalf  of 
Christ"  The  ordinary  physical  activities  of  human 
life  are  sacred,  for  the  Christian's  body  is  a  "  member 
of  Christ"  The  slave  can  cheerfully  bear  his  bond 
age,  for  he  is  the  Lord's  freedman.  Apparent  failure 
need  not  discourage,  for  "ye  know  that  your  labour  is 
not  vain  in  the  Lord"  Death  has  no  terrors  for  the 
loyal  disciple,  for  he  would  much  rather  "  be  absent 
from  the  body,  and  at  home  with  the  Lord"  But  life 
with  its  duties,  and  opportunities,  and  claims,  and 
problems  is  a  solemn  thing,  for  "  we  must  all  be  made 
manifest  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ ;  that  each 
one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  the  body,  according 
to  what  He  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad" 
Christ  fills  the  whole  horizon  of  Apostolic  Chris 
tianity  :  therefore  if  love  of  Christ  be  absent,  the 
very  possibility  of  discipleship  is  lacking.  "If  any 
man  loveth  not  the  Lord,  let  him  be  anathema" 

Here  I  would  find  the  moral  of  the  history  ;  I 
would  make  this  the  practical  inference.  If  we 
would  indeed  vindicate  our  lineage  from  the  Apostolic 


CONCLUSIONS  293 

Church,  we  too  must  fill  our  spiritual  horizon  with 
Jesus  Christ.  Hitherto  we  have  been  forcing  before 
men  other  things,  true,  precious,  even  necessary  in 
their  place,  but  as  we  present  them — torn  out  of  their 
religious  context,  separated  from  their  true  con 
nexions,  stripped  of  their  real  justifications — both 
unintelligible  and  unprofitable.  The  Church,  the 
Sacraments,  the  priesthood,  the  Bible,  the  preaching 
— these  are  paraded  before  the  eyes  of  men,  who, 
whether  they  know  it  or  not,  are  longing  for  Jesus 
Christ.  Cardinal  Manning  somewhere  relates  that 
he  was  deeply  shocked  by  reading  of  a  large  public 
meeting  in  America  where  the  Church  was  hissed 
and  the  name  of  Jesus  received  with  cheers.  I  have 
myself  heard  a  great  assembly  of  self-styled  Secu 
larists  in  East  London  cheer  our  Saviour  with  obvious 
sincerity.  There  is  a  very  deep  truth,  however  dis 
creditable  to  us  Christians,  revealed  by  this  attitude. 
Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified  must  come  first  and 
remain  first.  On  that  foundation  the  rest  can  be 
builded  ;  apart  from  that  foundation  the  rest  is 
positively  mischievous. 

And  here  also  is  our  one  hope  of  reunion.  It 
is  vain  to  put  forward  schemes  of  comprehension  by 
which  men  are  invited  to  compromise  in  the  sphere 
of  religion  where  compromise  is  treason.  But  let  us 
all,  whatever  our  religious  preferences,  whatever  our 
denominational  description,  set  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified  in  the  supreme  place,  and  insist  on  every 
thing  being  justified  with  reference  to  Him,  and 
upon  the  darkness  of  our  divisions  the  day-star  of 
unity  will  begin  to  rise.  For  everything  will  find 


294         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

its  true  level  and  be  seen  in  its  true  proportions.  A 
mightier  force  than  that  of  religious  preferences,  or 
than  that  of  sectarian  loyalty,  will  bear  upon  us, 
humbling  our  pride,  enlightening  our  ignorance, 
abashing  our  prejudices,  enkindling  our  affections — 
the  force  of  Jesus  crucified.  When  we  bring  all 
our  mutual  condemnations  under  this  sufficient, 
Apostolic  sentence,  "  If  any  man  loveth  not  the  Lord 
let  him  be  anathema  " — for  him  in  our  Church  fellow 
ship  we  have  no  place, — we  shall  not  be  far  from 
uniting  in  the  Apostolic  salutation,  "  Grace  be  with 
all  tJtem  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  uncorrupt- 
ness" — of  such,  however  ignorant  and  wrongheaded, 
we  can  spare  none,  for  such,  however  we  regard  them, 
or  they  describe  themselves,  are  disciples  of  Jesus, 
and  members  of  His  mystical  body.  "No  man  can 
say,  Jesus  is  Lord,  but  in  the  Holy  Spirit" 


APPENDICES 

I.   ST.  PAUL'S  TEACHING  AT  CORINTH 
II.   APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION 
III.  CONFESSION 
IV.  CELIBACY 


APPENDIX   I. 
S.  PAUL'S  TEACHING  AT  CORINTH 

IN  the  Acts  (chap,  xviii.)  we  learn  that  S.  Paul's  sojourn 
in  Corinth  lasted  for  no  less  than  eighteen  months,  and 
that  it  fell  into  two  distinct  periods.  In  the  first  and 
shortest  the  Apostle  "reasoned  in  the  synagogue  every 
Sabbath,  and  persuaded  Jews  and  Greeks."  Opposition 
was  violent  and  unscrupulous,  and  it  was  met  by  an 
unusual  vehemence  on  the  part  of  S.  Paul,  which  reached 
a  climax  on  the  arrival  of  Silas  and  Timothy  from  Mace 
donia,  presumably  with  tidings  of  Jewish  persecutions. 
11  Paul  was  constrained  (arvv€i\m)  by  the  Word,  testifying 
to  the  Jews  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ."  His  new  vigour 
brought  matters  to  the  crisis  which  occasioned  the  public 
and  formal  separation  of  disciples  from  the  synagogue, 
and  their  organization  as  a  Christian  Ecclesia,  which  met 
at  the  house  of  Titus  Justus.  Then  the  second  and 
longest  period  of  the  Corinthian  sojourn  began.  It  is 
evident  that  the  Apostle  was  convinced  of  the  decisive 
importance  of  his  own  action  at  this  time.  The  history 
of  the  independent  Christian  Ecclesia  was  inaugurated 
by  a  special  Divine  intervention,  in  which  S.  Paul  was 
commanded  to  go  forward  with  his  undertaking,  and 
assured  of  God's  protection  and  assistance.  Relying  on 
this  supernatural  assurance  he  continued  in  Corinth  for 
a  long  time,  "  teaching  the  Word  of  God."  What  was  the 

297 


298         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

range  and  character  of  that  long  course  of  teaching? 
That  it  was  far  more  extensive  and  detailed  than  is 
commonly  thought  may  perhaps  be  inferred  from  the 
contemptuous  language  of  Gallio.  The  Jews  brought  a 
perplexing  mass  of  complaints  before  the  proconsul,  which 
he  could  only  describe  as  "  questions  about  words  and 
names,  and  your  own  law."  The  indirect  evidence  of  the 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  confirms  this  inference.  There 
is  (with  the  exception  of  i  Cor.  xv.,  which  stands  quite  by 
itself)  very  little  deliberate  theological  instruction  in  these 
Epistles,  but  they  assume  a  very  considerable  theological 
knowledge.  It  would  seem  that  S.  Paul's  teaching  had 
included  the  following  : — 

1.  TJie  Evangelic  Tradition—  the  Life,  Passion,  Death, 
Resurrection,  Ascension  of  Christ. 

2.  Interpretation   of  the  Old  Testament  in   the  light  of 
Christian  Belief.     See  especially  i  Cor.  x.  i-i  i  ;  2  Cor.  iii. 

3.  A  detailed  doctrine  of  the  Person  and  Work  of  our 
Saviour.    It  must  be  remembered  that  the  great  theological 
treatise,   the  Epistle  to  the   Romans,  and  what   may  be 
almost   described   as  its   rough   draft,  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,   belong  to  the  same  chronological   group  with 
the  Corinthian   Epistles,   and  may  be  taken  to   illustrate 
them.       i    Cor.   i.    30   assumes    a   large    background    of 
theological  knowledge.     "  But  of  Him  (i.e.,  God)  are  ye 
in  Christ  Jesus,  Who   was   made  unto  us  wisdom   from 
God,  and  righteousness,  and  sanctification,  and  redemp 
tion."     The  great  key  words  of  the  Pauline  theology  are 
here    found    in    the    least    theological    of    his    Epistles. 
SiKcuocrwr/,    ayccur/xos,    aTroAtrr/Daxris. 

4.  A   very   definite   and   rich    teaching  about  the    Holy 
Spirit.     S.  Paul  never  thinks  it  necessary  to  explain  his 
references  to  the  Spirit,  which  are  numerous,  e.g.,  i  Cor.  ii. 
10-16;  iii.  16;  vi.  n,  19;  xii.     Necessarily  resulting  from 


S.  PAUL'S  TEACHING  AT  CORINTH     299 

this  we  find  that  Trinitarian  doctrine  of  a  very  positive 
kind  was  familiar  to  the  Corinthians.  The  formula, 
2  Cor.  xiii.  14,  implies  a  very  definite  and  coherent 
Trinitarian  belief. 

5.  Eschatological  doctrine,  e.g.,  iii.  13-15;  vi.  2,  3.     The 
most  probable  explanation  of  this  passage  understands  a 
reference   to   the   final  consummation.     The  point  to   be 
noticed  is  the  quiet  assumption  that  the  Corinthians  were 
quite  familiar  with  the  subject.     "  Know  ye  not  that  the 
saints  shall  judge  the  world?  .  .  .  Know  ye  not  that  we 
shall  judge  angels?"     The  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians 
were  written   during   the   Apostle's   stay  at  Corinth,   and 
they  are  very  rich  in  eschatological  suggestions. 

6.  Careful  moral  teaching,  especially  in  connexion  with 
the  Sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism. 

7.  Ecclesiastical    customs,     the     Tra/aaSdcrcis    which    the 
Apostle  had  delivered  to  the  Corinthians,     i  Cor.  xi.  i  ; 
cf.  2  Thess.  iii.  6. 

The  formula  "Know  ye  not?"  occurs  no  less  than  ten 
times  in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  it  ought  to  be  understood  as  a  specific 
reference  to  Apostolic  teachings,  but  an  examination  of 
the  passages  in  which  it  appears  prohibits  this.  They 
are  the  following:  iii.  16;  v.  6;  vi.  2,  3,  9,  15,  16,  19; 
ix.  13,  24. 


APPENDIX   II. 
APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION 

IT  can  hardly  be  disputed  by  any  well-informed  student 
that  the  conventional  Anglican  teaching  about  the 
Apostolic  Succession  is  in  many  respects  gravely  objection 
able.*  It  states  boldly  as  a  fact  what  is  at  best  a  probable 
supposition,  and  it  is  made  to  carry  the  burden  of  practical 
inferences  so  serious  that  nothing  but  the  clearest  and 
most  convincing  proofs  could  sufficiently  commend  them 
to  the  acceptance  of  thoughtful  Christians.  It  ought  to 
be  admitted  that  in  its  crude  traditional  form  the  doctrine 

*  Such  teaching  as  that  given  on  "The  Ministry  of  the  Church,"  in 
a  popular  and  in  many  respects  excellent  manual,  by  the  Rev.  VERNON 
STALEY,  The  Catholic  Religion.  What  could  be  more  arbitrary  than 
this  :  "  The  only  possible  meaning  of  the  saying,  f  Lo  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world,'  is  this.  '  I  will  be  with  the 
ministry  of  which  you  are  but  the  first  members.  I  will  be  with  you, 
and  not  only  with  you,  but  also  with  all  who  shall  come  after  you  in 
the  ministry.  You  will  die,  but  your  office  will  live  on,  and  I  will  be 
with  that  office  in  the  persons  of  your  successors,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world.'  Thus  we  have  the  great  promise  on  which  the  doctrine  of 
the  Apostolic  Succession  rests"  (p.  20).  It  is  held  by  many  inter 
preters  that  the  promise  of  Christ  was  addressed  to  the  general 
company  of  the  disciples,  whose  presence  is  hinted  at  in  verse  17 
("some  doubted").  It  is  simply  not  true  that  the  passage  admits 
of  no  other  meaning  than  that  stated.  The  words  are  not  the  com 
missioning  of  an  order,  but  of  a  society.  They  are  quite  compatible 
with  the  view  that  the  inspired  society  may  develop  organizations 
of  teaching  and  government  to  match  its  necessities ;  and,  in  fact,  this 
is  the  testimony  of  Church  History. 

300 


APOSTOLIC   SUCCESSION  301 

of  Apostolic  Succession  is  subsequent  to  the  Apostolic 
Age.  Only  with  very  large  deductions  can  we  allow  the 
truth  of  the  familiar  Embertide  hymn  : — 

"  His  twelve  Apostles  first  He  made 

His  ministers  of  grace, 
And  they  their  hands  on  others  laid 
To  fill  in  turn  their  place." 

For  the  Apostles,  strictly  speaking,  had  no  successors. 
Their  functions  were  unique  and  incommunicable.  In  a 
more  general  sense  the  Christian  ministry,  however  desig 
nated  or  organized,  stands  in  the  Apostolic  Succession. 
The  crucial  question  is,  Have  we  any  sufficient  grounds 
for  pleading  Apostolic  authority  in  its  extremest,  most 
obligatory  shape  for  that  type  of  ecclesiastical  order  which 
we  now  call  Episcopal  ?  That  the  threefold  ministry  can 
be  traced  in  a  continuous  line  to  Apostolic  times  is  now 
generally  admitted ;  that  any  other  type  of  ecclesiastical 
order  can  be  so  traced  may  be  securely  denied;  but, 
though  these  facts  do  undoubtedly  confer  on  the  Episcopal 
regime  a  prestige,  a  value,  and  an  interest  which  are  unique, 
can  it  be  reasonably  maintained  that  they  justify  the  rigid 
and  tremendous  conclusion  that  non-Episcopal  ministries 
are  necessarily  invalid  ?  Since  it  is  certain  that  the  three 
fold  ministry  is  not  absolutely  coeval  with  the  Church, 
and  since  it  is  admittedly  not  based  on  any  known  com 
mandment  of  Christ,  can  it  be  justly  claimed  that  now  the 
threefold  ministry  belongs  to  the  "  esse  "  of  the  Church  ? 

These  questions  seem  equally  difficult  and  important. 
For  the  higher  the  theory  of  the  Church  the  greater  must 
be  the  authority  of  its  permanent  agreements,  and  the 
threefold  ministry  certainly  represents  one  of  the  most 
permanent  of  all  such  agreements.  The  Divine  Right 
of  the  ministry  as  certified  by  the  Episcopal  Succession 


302         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

from  the  Apostles  was  never  questioned  from  the  second 
century  to  the  sixteenth.  It  would  seem  that  to  abandon 
a  system  so  long-standing  could  hardly  fail  to  involve  the 
gravest  spiritual  consequences.  But  the  commentary  of 
nearly  four  centuries  on  the  Reformation  does  not  seem 
to  correspond  with  the  requirements  of  the  rigid  Episcopal 
theory.  Christianity,  it  is  contended,  has  been  most 
Apostolic  outside  the  Apostolic  Succession,  most  Christian 
outside  the  sphere  of  Sacramental  grace.  This  is  an 
exaggeration  of  facts  which,  exaggeration  apart,  must  be 
faced. 

There  is,  of  course,  another  side  to  the  question.  The 
witness  of  the  last  four  centuries  is  by  no  means  uniformly 
favourable  to  "  Protestantism."  Ecclesiastical  anarchy  is 
seen  to  have  evils  of  its  own  scarcely  less  baleful  than 
those  of  hierarchic  absolutism.  The  decay  of  the  Christian 
character  through  sectarian  competition  and  conflict  is 
hardly  less  ruinous  than  the  debasement  of  the  Christian 
life  by  ignorance  and  superstition.  But  this  must  be 
allowed.  The  evils  of  Protestant  anarchy  are  very  gener 
ally  admitted,  and  are  on  the  way  to  be  overcome.  The 
nineteenth  century  is  more  united  and  charitable  than  the 
seventeenth;  but  the  evils  of  absolutism,  at  least  so  far 
as  the  Roman  Church  represents  absolutism,  seem  to  grow 
more  inveterate  and  baleful.  The  Christianity  of  Southern 
Europe  and  Southern  America  is  perhaps  less  intellectual 
and  moral  to-day  than  in  the  seventeenth  century.  On  the 
whole  view  of  the  last  four  centuries  I  think  it  must  be 
admitted  that  non-Episcopalian  Christianity  has  proved  its 
power  to  stand  the  moral  test  of  discipleship  proposed  by 
our  Lord  at  least  as  well  as  Episcopalian.  Its  "fruits," 
religious,  social,  political,  intellectual,  are  indisputable.  We 
are,  then,  driven  to  ask,  How  far  shall  all  this  affect  our 
doctrine  of  Apostolic  Succession?  Is  the  "Witness  of 


APOSTOLIC   SUCCESSION  303 

History  "  valid  up  to  the  sixteenth  century  and  not  beyond  ? 
Is  the  development  of  the  Christian  Ecclesia  to  be  ar 
bitrarily  arrested  at  the  second  century  or  the  fourth? 
The  Roman  Church  seems  to  stand  for  a  truth  when  she 
answers  in  the  negative  these  questions,  though  her  arbi 
trary  application  of  the  truth  she  admits  robs  her  admission 
of  practical  result.  At  all  hazards  it  would  seem  that  a 
living  belief  in  the  Church,  as  a  Divinely  Inspired  Society, 
must  require  a  willingness  to  revise  past  conclusions  by 
present  experience.  It  seems  involved  in  the  conviction 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  continuously  present  in  the  Church, 
that  we  should  give  the  greatest  importance  to  the  latest 
Christian  experience.  For  that  must  be  supposed  to  reflect 
His  most  recent  guidance.  Definitions  must  be  adequate, 
if  they  are  to  be  received  as  true.  The  strict  conventional 
Episcopalian  definition  of  the  Church  is  ceasing  to  be 
adequate ;  the  probability  is  that  within  a  few  generations 
it  will  become  as  patently  inadequate  as  the  kindred 
Roman  definition.  Probably,  however,  both  definitions 
are  rather  lightly  held.  Men  may  be  illogical,  they  are 
rarely  in  large  numbers  consciously  absurd. 

For  the  present,  perhaps,  the  wisest  course  for  the 
modest  churchman  is  (i)  to  loyally  adhere  to  the  system 
of  his  own  church;  (2)  to  abstain  from  any  positive 
condemnation  of  other  ecclesiastical  systems,  except  in  so 
far  as  they  advance  exclusive  claims ;  (3)  to  frankly 
recognize  the  "  fruits  of  the  Spirit "  wherever  manifested ; 
(4)  to  discourage  all  proselytizing  as  between  Christian 
denominations ;  (5)  to  gladly  unite  in  combined  action 
with  other  Christians  wherever  such  union  does  not  hurt 
consciences  and  involve  insincerity. 

Jeremy  Taylor's  contemptuous  description  of  proselytizing 
might  be  usefully  studied  by  the  bustling  zealots  of  our 
own  day. 


304         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

" .  .  .  it  is  enough  to  weary  the  spirit  of  a  disputer,  that 
he  shall  argue  till  he  hath  lost  his  voice,  and  his  time,  and 
sometimes  the  question  too;  and  yet  no  man  shall  be  of 
his  mind  more  than  was  before.  How  few  turn  Lutherans, 
or  Calvinists,  or  Roman  Catholics,  from  the  religion  either 
of  their  country  or  interest !  Possibly  two  or  three  weak 
or  interested,  fantastic  and  easy,  prejudicate  and  effeminate 
understandings,  pass  from  church  to  church,  upon  grounds 
as  weak  as  those,  for  which  formerly  they  did  dissent ;  and 
the  same  arguments  are  good  or  bad,  as  exterior  accidents 
or  interior  appetites  shall  determine.  I  deny  not  but,  for 
great  causes,  some  opinions  are  to  be  quitted ;  but  when  I 
consider  how  few  do  forsake  any,  and  when  any  do,  often 
times  they  choose  the  wrong  side,  and  they  that  take  the 
righter  do  it  so  by  contingency,  and  the  advantage  is  also  so 
little,  I  believe  that  the  triumphant  persons  have  but  small 
reason  to  please  themselves  in  gaining  proselytes,  since 
their  purchase  is  so  small,  and  as  inconsiderable  to  their 
triumph  as  it  is  unprofitable  to  them  who  change  for  the 
worse  or  for  the  better  upon  unworthy  motives.  In  all  this 
there  is  nothing  certain,  nothing  noble.  But  he  that  follows 
the  work  of  God,  that  is,  labours  to  gain  souls,  not  to  a  sect 
and  a  subdivision,  but  to  the  Christian  Religion,  that  is,  to 
the  faith  and  obedience  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  hath  a  promise 
to  be  assisted  and  rewarded ;  and  all  those  that  go  to 
heaven  are  the  purchase  of  such  undertakings,  the  fruit 
of  such  culture  and  labours :  for  it  is  only  a  holy  life  that 
lands  us  there."  —  Dedication  of  the  Life  of  Christ; 
Works ,  vol.  ii.  p.  12.  London,  1828. 

The  conscience  of  Christendom  is  certainly  being  deeply 
moved  on  the  subject  of  religious  division.  The  desire  for 
a  worthier  expression  in  the  external  sphere  of  that  "  unity 
of  the  Spirit "  which  all  Christians  profess  is  forcing  all 
devout  disciples  to  criticise  with  anxious  severity  the 


APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION  305 

stumbling-blocks  to  fellowship.  The  exclusive  claims  of 
types  of  ecclesiastical  order  constitute,  perhaps,  the  most 
obdurate  and  general  of  such  stumbling-blocks.  Most  of 
those  claims  are  certainly  false,  all  are  probably  exaggerated, 
all  may  be  ultimately  found  to  be  baseless.  In  any  case,  it 
must  be  a  good  thing  that  we  should  consider  them  with 
the  grave  consciousness  of  their  practical  effects,  and  an 
entire  willingness  to  abandon  them  if  the  duty  of  Disciple- 
ship,  that  is,  the  Interest  of  Truth,  so  require. 


APPENDIX   III. 
CONFESSION 

IT  is  well  known  that  in  the  earliest  church  the  practice 
of  private  confession  to  the  individual  priest  did  not 
exist.*  It  was  not  until  the  fifth  century  that  it  received 
official  recognition ;  it  was  not  until  the  thirteenth  that,  in 
the  West,  it  was  made  compulsory.  The  inference  is  very 
commonly  drawn  that  any  insistence  on  the  practice  must 
be  regarded  as  an  unwarrantable  infringement  of  Christian 
liberty,  and  therefore  to  be  firmly  resisted. 

It  is  not,  however,  sufficiently  remembered  that  private 
confession  to  the  Christian  minister,  though  -itself  a 
comparatively  modern  practice,  represents  an  important  and 
indeed  essential  element  of  discipleship  as  conceived  in 
the  Apostolic  age.  The  mode  of  confession,  whether 
public  or  private,  whether  made  in  presence  of  the 
congregation  or  in  that  of  the  priest,  is,  after  all,  a  matter 
of  secondary  importance.  In  some  mode  confession  of 
sins  is  necessary,  in  some  sense  the  Church  is  endowed 
with  "the  power  of  the  keys,"  by  some  means  the 
"  ministry  of  reconciliation "  must  be  fulfilled  by  the 
ordained  ministry.  The  grave  fact  is  that  vast  numbers  of 

*  The  history  of  the  practice  is  traced  in  the  article  "Exomologesis" 
in  Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquity ',  where  references  are  given.  See 
also  Bishop  Reichel's  sermon  on  "Confession"  in  Cathedral  and 
University  Sermons,  pp.  266-302,  for  a  learned  and  fair  statement  of  the 
case  against  the  practice. 

306 


CONFESSION  307 

modern  Christians  have  largely  lost  all  real  conception 
of  repentance,  that  in  repudiating  (rightly  enough)  the 
exaggerated  and  mechanical  procedure  of  the  Mediaeval 
Church,  they  have  provided  for  themselves  no  alternative 
discipline.  Moreover,  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that 
private  confession  to  the  Christian  minister  has  the 
sanction  of  many  centuries  and  many  saints.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  it  is  commended  by  the  general  ex 
perience  and  the  holiest  examples  of  the  Christian  Society. 

Yet  it  is  very  evident  that  much  dislike  exists  among 
English  churchmen  to  a  religious  practice  which  is  allowed, 
and,  under  certain  circumstances,  recommended  in  the 
Prayer  Book.  I  am  not  here  concerned  with  the  subject 
of  private  confession,  save  in  so  far  as  it  represents  an 
element  of  Apostolic  Christianity. 

Open  acknowledgment  of  faults  in  the  presence  of  others 
was  certainly  practised  among  the  Jews,  and  adopted  into 
the  regular  custom  of  the  infant  Church.  Two  passages 
seem  to  be  conclusive  on  this  point. 

(i)  S.  James  v.  14-16.  "Is  any  among  you  sick?  let 
him  call  for  the  elders  (TOVS  irpto-fivTepovs)  of  the  Church ; 
and  let  them  pray  over  him,  anointing  him  with  oil  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord :  and  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save 
him  that  is  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up;  and 
if  he  have  committed  sins  (a/ia/rrias),  it  shall  be  for 
given  him.  Confess,  therefore,  your  sins  one  to  another, 
(e£o/zoA.oy€icr#e  ovv  dAAvjAois  ra?  ajuaprt'as),  and  pray  one 
for  another,  that  ye  may  be  healed  (ta$Jre)."  It  is  to  be 
specially  noted  that  (a)  the  presbyters  are  present,  and 
presumably  the  recipients  of  the  sick  man's  confession; 
(ft)  forgiveness  is  apparently  conditioned  by  confession, 
" Confess,  therefore"  etc. ;  (y)  the  connexion  between  sin 
and  bodily  illness  is  assumed ;  the  forgiveness  of  the  one 
involves  recovery  from  the  other.  We  may  compare  the 


308         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

narrative  in  the  Gospel  of  S.  Mark  ii.  1-12.  Christ  forgives 
the  sins  of  the  man  sick  of  the  palsy.  The  association  of 
physical  distress  and  moral  evil  underlies  S.  Paul's  words  in 
i  Cor.  xi.  30. 

(2)  i  John  i.  9.  "  If  we  confess  (o/zoAoyw/xev)  our  sins, 
He  is  faithful  and  righteous  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and 
to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness."  The  word 
o/^oAoyeu',  to  confess,  certainly  indicates  a  public  acknow 
ledgment  with  the  lips.  Thus,  to  give  but  one  example, 
S.  Paul  in  Romans  x.  10  distinguishes  between  inward 
faith  and  outward  confession  of  faith,  "  with  the  heart  man 
believeth  unto  righteousness ;  and  with  the  mouth  con 
fession  is  made  (6/xoA.oyen-cu)  unto  salvation." 

Such  open  acknowledgment  of  sins  was  the  recognized 
evidence  of  repentance.  The  multitudes  who  were  con 
verted  by  S.  John  the  Baptist  are  said  to  have  confessed 
their  sins  (S.  Matt.  iii.  6);  and  in  Acts  xix.  18  we  read 
that  many  penitent  Ephesians,  dismayed  by  the  fate  of 
the  sons  of  Sceva,  "came,  confessing  and  declaring  their 
deeds." 

It  seems  a  reasonable  inference  that  the  undoubted 
practice*  of  the  sub- Apostolic  Church  obtained  from  the 
first,  that  the  normal  preliminary  to  Baptism  and  Holy 
Communion  was  such  open  acknowledgment  of  sin.  The 
penitential  system  of  the  early  Church  had  its  roots  in 
Apostolic  practice. 

*  The  Didache  contains  two  directions  which  sufficiently  illustrate 
the  sub- Apostolic  practice,  e.g. , 

iv.  14.  "In  the  congregation  (Iv  tKKXyatq.)  thou  shalt  confess  thy 
transgressions,  and  thou  shalt  not  come  to  thy  prayer  with  an  evil 
conscience." 

xiv.  I.  "And  on  the  Lord's  day  of  the  Lord  (/card  KvpiaK^v  5e 
Kvpiov)  come  together  and  break  bread,  and  give  thanks,  having 
before  confessed  your  transgressions  [irpo[<r]€^o/jio\oyrj<rdfj.€voi  rd 
VJJLWV],  that  your  sacrifice  may  be  pure. 


CONFESSION  309 

The  famous  commission  to  the  Apostles,  S.  John  xx.  23, 
can  hardly  be  altogether  separated  from  the  subject  of 
confession.*  The  same  writer  records  the  words  of  Christ 
and  gives  the  admonition  to  confession.  He  could  hardly 
fail  to  connect  the  two.  And  if  this  be  conceded,  then 
the  bold  practice  of  the  Church  of  England  in  including 
the  famous  words  in  the  formula  of  ordination  to  the 
priesthood  is  not  wholly  destitute  of  justification. 

Confession  does  not  seem  to  necessarily  involve  a 
sacerdotal  theory  of  the  Christian  ministry.  I  know  no 
reason  why  confessions  should  not  be  heard  and  absolution 
pronounced  by  a  layman,  provided  he  be  duly  com 
missioned  by  the  Church ;  there  are  obvious  practical 
reasons  why  the  clergy  should  normally  hear  confessions; 
it  is  not  necessary  to  assume  any  other.  There  is  an 
admirable  sermon  on  "The  Restoration  of  the  Erring," 
by  Robertson,  of  Brighton,  which  sets  forth  very  im 
pressively  the  deep  truth  which,  with  whatever  admixture 
of  irrelevant  and  erroneous  ideas,  is  represented  by  "  the 
confessional."  He  treats  of  the  same  subject  also  in  his 
Expository  Lectures  on  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians. 
Lecture  XL,  on  "The  Christian  Idea  of  Absolution,"  is 
especially  noteworthy.  I  do  not  see  any  vital  discrepancy 
between  the  Catholic  doctrine  and  the  following : — 

"Inasmuch  as  S.  Paul  absolved,  let  us  learn  the  true 

*  But  it  must  not  be  pressed  too  far.  Bp.  WESTCOTT'S  remarks 
(S.  John,  p.  295)  are  not  always  sufficiently  remembered.  "The 
commission  must  be  regarded  properly  as  the  commission  of  the 
Christian  Society,  and  not  as  that  of  the  Christian  ministry.  .  .  . 
It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  an  absolute  individual  exercise 
of  the  power  of  '  retaining '  ;  so  far  it  is  contrary  to  the  scope  of  the 
passage  to  seek  in  it  a  direct  authority  for  the  absolute  individual 
exercise  of  the  '  remitting.' " 

It  is  well  known  that  the  words  of  S.  John  xx.  23  are  not  found 
in  any  Ordinal  earlier  than  the  twelfth  century. 


310         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

principle  of  ministerial  absolution.  Humanity  is  the 
representative  of  Deity.  The  Church  is  the  representative 
of  Humanity,  the  ideal  of  Humanity.  The  minister  is 
the  representative  of  the  Church.  When,  therefore,  the 
minister  reads  the  absolution,  he  declares  a  Fact.  It  does 
not  depend  on  his  character  or  his  will.  It  is  a  true  voice 
of  man  on  earth  echoing  the  Voice  of  God  in  heaven. 
But  if  the  minister  forgets  his  representative  character; 
if  he  forgets  that  it  is  simply  in  the  name  of  Humanity 
and  God,  '  in  the  person  of  Christ ' ;  if  by  any  mysterious 
language  or  priestly  artifices  he  fixes  men's  attention  on 
himself,  or  his  office,  as  containing  in  it  a  supernatural 
power  not  shared  by  other  men ;  then,  just  so  far,  he  does 
not  absolve  or  free  the  soul  by  declaring  God.  He  binds 
it  again  by  perplexed  and  awe-engendering  falsehood,  and, 
so  far,  is  no  priest  at  all ;  he  has  forfeited  the  priestly  power 
of  Christian  Humanity,  and  claimed  instead  the  spurious 
power  of  the  priesthood  of  Superstition."  Something  must 
be  allowed  for  the  polemical  atmosphere  of  1851,  when 
these  words  were  spoken ;  they  cannot  in  my  opinion 
be  accepted  as  an  adequate  statement  of  the  Christian 
doctrine;  but  they  do  not  seem  to  me  necessarily  incom 
patible  with  it,  and  they  are  certainly  sufficient  to  justify 
the  practice  of  private  confession.  Personally  I  am  con 
vinced — and  experience  deepens  the  conviction — that  there 
are  deep  spiritual  needs  which  by  that  practice  alone  can 
receive  satisfaction ;  that  those  needs  are  far  more  widely 
distributed  than  is  commonly  supposed;  that  the  Church 
of  England  fails  to  provide  adequately  for  the  spiritual 
necessities  of  the  people,  wherever  the  "  ministry  of  recon 
ciliation  "  is  not  so  fulfilled  as  to  bring  frankly  within  the 
reach  of  penitents  that  "  benefit  of  absolution  "  of  which 
the  Prayer  Book  speaks.  I  believe  that  one  of  the  most 
urgent  reforms  needed  in  our  Church  is  the  regulation  of 


CONFESSION  311 

the  confessional.  That  the  gravest  risks  are  incurred  by 
our  present  system,  or  no-system,  seems  to  me  too  obvious 
to  need  argument.  Confessions  are  being  heard  in  ever- 
increasing  numbers  all  over  the  country.  This  is,  to  my 
thinking,  on  the  whole,  a  hopeful  sign  of  our  religious 
state.  But  the  doctrine  and  procedure  of  confession  are 
almost  as  various  as  the  parishes.  In  one  place  the  full 
Roman  theory  is  insisted  on,  in  another  arbitrary  rules  are 
adopted,  in  others  little  or  no  teaching  on  the  subject 
exists.  Here  confessions  are  heard  in  open  Church,  here 
in  the  vestry,  here  (a  reprehensible  practice)  in  the 
vicarage.  All  priests  alike  are  supposed  to  be  competent 
for  the  most  delicate  and  difficult  duty  which  any  man 
can  be  called  to  perform.  In  all  this  I  perceive  almost 
infinite  possibilities  of  danger.  Two  reforms  are,  to  my 
thinking,  imperative,  both  of  which  have  the  sanction  of 
Christian  experience:  (i)  The  appointment  of  confessors, 
or,  at  least,  the  restriction  of  this  ministry  to  priests  of  cer 
tain  standing  and  position.  No  man  ought  ordinarily  to 
be  called  upon  to  face  this  great  duty  without  experience 
and  without  training.  (2)  The  authorisation  of  public 
"confessionals."  The  publicity  of  private  confession  — 
if  I  may  be  allowed  the  paradox — is  the  best  security 
against  scandal.  Unfortunately  the  silly  clamour  against 
"confessional  boxes"  raised  by  some  fanatics  gives  little 
hope  that  this  sensible  arrangement  can  be  adopted  for 
a  long  while  to  come. 


APPENDIX    IV. 
CELIBACY 

THE  reputation  of  S.  Paul  has  suffered  from  his 
apparent  preference  for  the  celibate  life.  It  may 
be  useful  to  examine  the  passage  which  most  clearly 
indicates  that  preference  (i  Cor.  vii.  1-9,  32-40).  There 
seem  to  have  been  persons  among  the  Corinthians  who 
condemned  the  single  life  as  in  itself  wrong;  there  were 
others  who  magnified  it  as  the  only  worthy  state.  The 
one  party  followed  the  prevailing  Rabbinic  view;  the 
other  opposed  to  that  view  an  extravagant  asceticism. 
The  Apostle,  therefore,  while  asserting  the  legitimate  and 
reasonable  character  of  celibacy,  is  careful  to  point  out 
the  conditions  under  which  the  celibate  life  may  rightly 
and  wisely  be  adventured.  "//  ts  good  [KaAov]  for  a 
man  not  to  touch  a  woman"  i.e.,  it  is  an  honourable 
and  excellent  thing  to  lead  the  single  life.  This, 
however,  does  not  altogether  settle  the  practical  question. 
So  S.  Paul  immediately  advances  two  limiting  con 
siderations.  "  But,  because  of  fornications  [Sia  Sf  ras 
Tro/Dveias]  let  each  man  have  his  own  wife,  and  let  each 
woman  have  her  own  husband"  In  view  of  the  low 
moral  standard  which  obtained  among  the  Corinthian 
Christians,  in  view  of  the  sensual  habits  in  which  many 
of  them  had  grown  up,  in  view  of  the  prevailing  licentious 
ness  of  Corinth,  he  could  not  advise  celibacy.  Marriage 

312 


CELIBACY  313 

was  a  more  prudent  course.  He  stops  to  insist  (against 
the  ascetics)  on  an  honest  fulfilment  of  conjugal  duty. 
He  will  not  hear  of  that  refusal  to  accept  the  obligations 
of  marriage,  which  subsequently  became  very  common  in 
the  Church. 

S.  Chrysostom,  commenting  on  this  passage,  denounces 
the  pseudo-chastity  of  Christian  wives,  which  became 
the  occasion  of  much  misery  and  sin.  Returning  to  the 
subject  of  celibacy,  the  Apostle  avows  his  own  preference 
for  that  state.  "  Yet  I  would  that  all  men  were  even 
as  I  my  self. n  He  recognizes,  however,  the  equal  honour 
of  marriage.  "  Howbeit  each  man  hath  his  own  gift 
[xa/otoyxa]  from  God)  one  after  this  manner •,  and  another 
after  that"  This  verse  gives  S.  Paul's  doctrine  in  a 
nutshell.  Both  marriage  and  celibacy  are  honourable 
and  excellent  states ;  both  demand  in  the  individual  a 
distinctive  "  gift  from  God"  Men  must  be  "called"  to 
the  one  or  the  other.  The  essential  thing  for  every 
man  is  to  know  and  obey  his  own  vocation. 

"But  I  say  to  unmarried  and  to  the  widow  s>  It  is  good 
\K.a.\uv\for  them  if  they  abide  even  as  /."  He  repeats  his 
former  proposition  that  the  single  life  is  honourable  and 
excellent,  and  adds  the  second  limiting  consideration. 
"But  if  tJiey  have  not  continency^  let  them  marry :  for  it 
is  better  to  marry  than  to  burn "  [TTU/DOIXT '6 ><u].  By  this 
forcible  expression  S.  Paul  describes  the  unhappy  condition 
of  the  man  who,  without  the  x°LPL(rlJia  of  continence,  en 
deavours  to  live  the  celibate  life.  He  is  consumed  by 
the  inward  fires  of  an  unceasing  conflict  between  his 
will  and  his  passions;  if  he  escape  the  Charybdis  of 
sensuality  it  is  only  to  be  wrecked  on  the  Scylla  of 
cynicism.  There  is  a  close  parallel  between  this  passage 
and  i  Cor.  vi.  1 2.  There  also  the  Apostle  first  propounds 
the  truth,  and  then  states  the  qualifying  considerations. 


314         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

All  things  are  lawful  for  It  is  good  for  a  man  not  to 
we j  touch  a  woman; 

but  but 

not  all  things  are  expedient.         because  of  fornications,  let  each 

man  have  his  own  wife,  etc» 
All  things  are  lawful  for  me;        It  is  good  for  them  if  they 

abide  even  as  I; 

but  but 

I  will  not  be  brought  under  the    if  they  have  not  continency, 
poiuerof  any.  let    them    marry:   for    it    is 

better  to  marry  than  to  burn. 

Later  in  the  chapter  S.  Paul  advances  two  reasons  for 
his  preference  for  celibacy.  The  first  is  obsolete,  the  last 
is  of  permanent  validity.  "  I  think  therefore  that  this  is 
good  by  reason  of  the  present  distress  "  [8ia  rryv  ei/coTwcrav 
dvdyKrjv].  The  reference  is  probably  to  the  ending  of  the 
age  which  the  whole  Apostolic  Church  believed  to 
be  imminent.  Experience  has  proved  that  this  convic 
tion  was  mistaken,  and  we  may  fairly  cancel  the  argument 
built  upon  a  demonstrable  error.  We  cannot  so  easily 
dismiss  the  following  reason  :  "But  I  would  have  you  to  be 
free  from  cares.  He  that  is  unmarried  is  careful  for  the 
things  of  the  Lord:  but  he  that  is  married  is  careful  for 
the  things  of  the  world,  how  he  may  please  his  wife.  A  nd 
there  is  a  difference  also  between  the  wife  and  the  virgin. 
She  that  is  unmarried  is  careful  for  the  things  of  the  Lord, 
that  she  may  be  holy  both  in  body  and  in  spirit :  but  she  that 
is  married  is  careful  for  the  things  of  the  world,  how  she 
may  please  her  husband.  And  this  I  say  for  your  own 
profit ;  not  that  I  may  cast  a  snare  upon  you,  but  for  that 
which  is  seemly,  and  that  ye  may  attend  upon  the  Lord  with 
out  distraction" 

It  does  not  seem  a  fair  inference  from  this  teaching  that 
S.  Paul  considered  celibacy  as  intrinsically  superior  to 


CELIBACY  315 

marriage.  He  regarded  both  as  honourable,  but  under 
existing  circumstances  and  for  certain  purposes  preferred 
celibacy. 

It  may  be  permitted  to  observe  that  the  Pauline  teaching 
demands  the  particular  attention  of  the  Church  of  England 
at  this  time.  In  our  anxiety  to  escape  the  very  obvious 
mischiefs  of  compulsory  celibacy  we  have  rushed  into  the 
opposite  extreme  of  discouraging  and  suspecting  all 
celibacy.  The  result  has  been  disastrous.  The  extreme 
poverty  of  a  married  clergy  threatens  spiritual  independ 
ence  and  official  efficiency.  The  squalid  distractions  of 
domestic  life  on  the  border-land  of  actual  want  are  equally 
unfavourable  to  parochial  energy  and  intellectual  exertion. 
Even  the  Rabbis  made  an  exception  in  favour  of  students 
of  the  law.  They  were  exempted  from  the  obligation  to 
marry.  We  have  swept  away  the  condition  of  celibacy, 
even  from  our  fellowships,  to  the  lasting  injury  of  collegiate 
life,  and  the  loss  of  sound  learning.  Surely  the  time  has 
come  when  this  domestic  fanaticism  may  give  place  to  a 
calmer  temper.  The  Pauline  doctrine  of  two  states, 
celibacy  and  marriage,  equally  honourable,  but  not  equally 
serviceable,  may  well  command  our  attention.  We  may 
recognize  at  last  that  all  men  are  not  equally  fitted  for 
the  same  work,  that  all  varieties  of  religious  work  cannot 
be  equally  performed  by  all  men.  We  need  an  allocation 
of  spheres.  In  the  missionary  field  and  in  the  great  town 
parishes  experience  suggests  that  a  celibate  clergy  working 
in  companies  would  best  serve  the  Church.  In  other 
places  it  may  be  that  married  men  would  be  most  useful. 


TWO   DISCOURSES 

I.  THE   ADMINISTRATION    OF   HOLY   BAPTISM    IN   LARGE 
URBAN   PARISHES 

PREACHED  BEFORE  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD,  IN  ST.  MARY'S, 
ON  JUNE  X4TH,  1896 

II.  THE  SOCIAL  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

PREACHED    IN    WESTMINSTER   ABBEY,    ON    MARCH   CTH,    1898 


THE 

ADMINISTRATION     OF     HOLY     BAPTISM 

IN    LARGE    URBAN    PARISHES 

S.  MARK  x.  14 

PREACHED  BEFORE  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD,  IN  S.  MARY'S, 
ON  JUNE  14x11,  1896 

"But  when  Jesus  saw  it,  He  was  moved  with  indignation, 
and  said  unto  them,  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto 
Me:  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven."— -S.  MARK  x.  14. 

THESE  words  are,  perhaps,  more  familiar  than  any 
others  to  English  Christians.  They  are  incorporated 
in  the  Baptismal  Service,  where  they  provide  the  scriptural 
basis  for  the  exhortation  which  the  minister  is  charged  to 
address  to  the  congregation,  which  our  Prayer  Book  assumes 
to  be  present  when  Holy  Baptism  is  administered  in  the 
Church.  I  have,  therefore,  chosen  them  as  the  text  of  a 
sermon  which  proposes  to  treat  of  a  matter  of  considerable 
and,  I  think,  urgent  practical  importance,  the  administration 
of  Holy  Baptism  in  the  Church  of  England. 

There  is  a  strong  and  suggestive  contrast  between  the 
ancient  and  the  modern  practice  of  Christians  in  this 
matter.  The  protracted  preparations  and  the  elaborate 
ceremonial  of  former  times  have  alike  almost  disappeared. 
The  prevalence  of  the  custom  of  baptizing  infants  neces 
sarily  annihilated  the  one;  the  Protestant  reaction  against 

3«9 


320         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

all  ceremony  naturally  affected  the  other.  For  centuries 
adult  Baptism  was  the  general  rule  in  the  Church ;  the 
famous  Catechetical  Lectures  of  S.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem, 
delivered  in  the  Lent  of  347,  clearly  assume  that  the 
catechumens  were  adult;  and,  indeed,  the  Church  was 
mainly  a  Missionary  Church  through  those  ages,  which 
we  call  primitive,  and  which  we  have  generally  agreed  to 
invest  with  special  authority.  It  would  seem  sufficiently 
probable  that  the  Baptism  of  infants  was  allowed  in 
Apostolic  times;  it  is  clear  that  once  allowed,  it  would 
speedily  become  prevalent;  natural  affection,  not  to  say 
also  the  incorrigible  superstition  of  mankind,  would  tend 
to  erect  an  occasional  indulgence  into  a  universal  rule. 
There  are  evidences,  however,  of  misgivings  in  the  Church 
on  the  subject,  and  it  is  certain  that  throughout  the  first 
four  centuries  infant  Baptism  was  by  no  means  considered 
obligatory  on  Christian  parents. 

In  order  to  make  clear  the  drift  of  my  discourse  I  will 
submit  three  propositions  as  the  heads  or  subjects  of 
discussion  : — 

I.  That    the    administration    of    Holy    Baptism    was 
anciently  regarded  as  involving  large  risk  to  the  Christian 
society,  and  was,  therefore,  conditioned  by  securities. 

II.  That  under  the  circumstances  of  urban  life  these 
securities  are  now  worthless. 

III.  That  the  modern  practice  of  unconditioned,  indis 
criminate  baptizing  is  indecent  in  itself,  discreditable  to 
the  Church,  and   highly  injurious  to  religion. 

I  shall  conclude  with  hazarding  a  few  suggestions  for 
the  reformation  of  the  existing  practice,  which  I  shall  hope 
to  have  shown  to  involve  most  serious  scandal. 

(i)  The  Church  is  a  visible  society,  and  Holy  Baptism 
is  the  formal  admission  of  a  new  member.  No  doubt  this 
is  very  far  from  an  adequate  account  of  the  Sacrament,  but 


HOLY   BAPTISM  321 

it  is,  so  far  as  it  goes,  a  true  account.  My  present  purpose 
does  not  require  me  to  approach  what  I  will  call  the 
theology  of  Holy  Baptism,  I  am  mainly  concerned  with  its 
ecclesiastical  aspect.  The  first  and  not  the  least  important 
effect  of  Baptism  is  admission  into  a  visible  society — the 
society  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Every  human  society 
must  be  intimately  interested  in  the  character  of  those  who 
seek  admission  into  the  number  of  its  members;  it  will 
guard  the  avenues  to  membership  with  tests  and  in 
quisitions  of  every  kind,  designed  to  reduce  to  the 
narrowest  limits  the  risk  of  admitting  unsatisfactory,  or 
scandalous,  or  treacherous  persons.  The  Catholic  Church 
also,  following  the  self-protective  policy  of  all  human 
societies,  took  precautions  against  this  risk.  One,  and 
that  perhaps  the  most  effectual  security,  was  provided  by 
the  hostility  of  the  world.  There  was  comparatively  slight 
inducement  to  false  profession  of  discipleship  when  every 
profession  conferred  a  title  to  oppression,  imprisonment, 
and  death.  Yet  (so  native  to  man  is  imposture)  there 
is  no  lack  of  evidences  to  show  that  even  in  the  ages  of 
persecution  the  Church  was  disturbed  and  degraded  by 
hypocrites.  These,  however,  became  more  numerous  in 
prosperous  times,  and  the  Church  had  to  depend  for  her 
defence  against  the  intrusion  of  unworthy  members  upon 
such  securities  as  she  could  herself  devise.  Careful  in 
struction  before  Baptism,  the  greatest  publicity  and 
solemnity  in  the  administration  of  the  Sacrament,  and  the 
system  of  sponsors  —  about  which  we  must  speak  im 
mediately — were  the  principal  of  these  securities.  The 
elaborate  and  graduated  system  of  instruction,  which 
makes  its  appearance  in  the  fourth  century,  had  been 
gradually  developed,  and  was,  perhaps,  at  all  times  rather 
an  ecclesiastical  ideal  than  an  actual  practice ;  but  we  may 
at  least  deduce  from  it  that  a  very  careful  and  thorough 
Y 


322         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

course  of  teaching  was  in  the  theory  of  the  Church  the 
normal  preliminary  to  Baptism.  The  Sacrament  was 
administered  but  twice  in  the  year,  at  the  great  Church 
Festivals;  the  Bishop  himself  presided,  and  every  effort 
seems  to  have  been  made  to  invest  the  whole  procedure 
with  awful  and  expressive  solemnity.  Sponsors,  in  the  case 
of  adults,  were  primarily  witnesses  to  character ;  they  seem 
to  have  also  been  charged  with  the  duty  of  preparing 
catechumens  for  the  actual  ceremonies  of  Baptism.  So 
the  office  of  sponsorship  was  of  some  importance,  and  was 
frequently  held  by  members  of  the  clerical  order.  *"The 
ancients  excluded  all  catechumens,  energumens,  heretics, 
and  penitents ;  that  is,  all  persons  who  were  never  yet  in 
full  communion  with  the  Church,  as  being  themselves 
unbaptized ;  or  else  such  as  had  forfeited  the  privileges 
of  their  Baptism  by  their  errors,  or  crimes,  or  incapacity." 
It  is  obvious  that  when  the  practice  of  baptizing  infants 
became  general  the  sponsor  became  a  more  important 
functionary.  The  risk  incurred  by  the  Church  in  admitting 
to  her  membership  those  of  whose  character  she  could 
have  no  assurance  was  manifest,  and  the  securities  by 
which  she  endeavoured  to  protect  herself  were  by  no 
means  as  insignificant  as  we,  judging  the  past  by  the 
present,  are  apt  to  suppose.  fThe  children  who  were 
baptized  were  entitled  to  Baptism  by  the  fact  of  their 
birth  of  Christian  parents.  The  analogy  of  circumcision, 
which  probably  in  the  first  instance  determined  the 
practice  of  the  Church,  would  suggest  the  rigid  limitation 
of  the  Sacrament  to  those  who  were  "born  within  the 
covenant."  In  later  times,  under  the  influence  of  a 
developed  doctrine  of  original  sin,  the  limits  of  the 

*  Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquities,  art.  "Sponsors." 

t   Vide  JEREMY  TAYLOR,  Of  Baptizing  Infants %  vol.  ii.  p.  284. 


HOLY  BAPTISM  323 

covenant  were  less  rigidly  observed,  but  always  in  default 
of  the  Christian  parent  the  Church  required  a  sponsor,  or 
sponsors,  who  could  really  fulfil  the  functions  of  the 
Christian  parent. 

* "  It  cometh  sometime  to  pass,"  saith  S.  Augustine, 
"that  the  children  of  bond-slaves  are  brought  to  Baptism 
by  their  lord ;  sometime  the  parents  being  dead,  the  friends 
alive  undertake  that  office ;  sometimes  strangers  or  virgins 
consecrated  unto  God,  which  neither  have  nor  can  have 
children  of  their  own,  take  up  infants  in  the  open  streets, 
and  so  offer  them  unto  Baptism,  whom  the  cruelty  of 
unnatural  parents  casteth  out  and  leaveth  to  the  adventure 
of  uncertain  pity,  as  therefore  he  which  did  the  part  of  a 
neighbour  was  a  neighbour  to  that  wounded  man  whom 
the  parable  of  the  Gospel  describeth;  so  they  are  fathers 
although  strangers  that  bring  infants  to  Him,  which  maketh 
them  the  sons  of  God."  In  the  phrase  of  "  some  kind  of 
men" — observes  Hooker,  commenting  on  this  passage — 
"they  used  to  be  termed  witnesses,  as  if  they  came  but 
to  see  and  testify  what  is  done.  It  savoureth  more  of 
piety  to  give  them  their  old  accustomed  name  of  fathers 
and  mothers  in  God,  whereby  they  are  well  put  in  mind 
what  affection  they  ought  to  bear  towards  those  innocents, 
for  whose  religious  education  the  Church  accepteth  them  as 
pledges."  It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  in  ancient  times  the 
God-parent  was  held  responsible  for  the  physical  mainten 
ance  as  well  as  for  the  spiritual  up-bringing  of  the  baptized 
infant.  Probably  both  responsibilities  were  largely  trans 
ferred  to  the  Church  herself,  regarded  as  "really  and 
ultimately  the  spiritual  mother"  of  all  the  baptized;  but 
the  danger  of  this  would  be  comparatively  slight,  nay,  there 
would  be  obvious  counterbalancing  advantages,  so  long  as 
the  physical  and  the  spiritual  responsibilities  were  conjoined; 

*  Quoted  in  Hooker,  Book  v.  cl.  64,  s.  5. 


324         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

it  was  only  when  the  physical  was  completely  severed  from 
the  spiritual,  as  has  been  the  almost  universal  fact  in 
modern  times,  that  the  mischiefs  with  which  we  are  so 
unhappily  familiar  have  arisen.  The  spiritual  respon 
sibilities  of  sponsors  have,  indeed,  been  frequently  asserted. 
The  Synod  of  Chelsea  in  the  year  787,*  to  give  but  one 
example  from  the  annals  of  our  own  Church,  enacted  "  that 
all  who  receive  children  from  the  font  know  that  they  are 
sureties  to  the  Lord,  according  to  their  undertaking,  for  the 
renouncing  of  Satan,  his  works  and  pomps,  and  for  the 
believing  of  the  faith ;  that  they  teach  them  the  Lord's 
Prayer  and  the  Creed  while  they  are  coming  to  ripeness  of 
age,  for  if  they  do  not,  what  is  promised  to  God  on  behalf 
of  them  that  cannot  speak  shall  be  with  rigour  exacted  of 
them." 

The  curious  prohibition  of  parents  from  acting  as 
sponsors  for  their  own  children — a  prohibition  which  was 
only  removed  by  the  Convocation  of  Canterbury  in  1865 
by  a  canon  which,  I  think,  has  never  been  ratified  by  the 
Crown,  and  therefore  possesses  no  legal  force— together 
with  the  still  more  curious  applications  of  the  doctrine  of 
spiritual  affinity  in  the  matter  of  marriage,  must  be  inter 
preted  as  indications  of  the  great  importance  attached  to 
the  religious  obligations  of  sponsorship.  In  the  West, 
Confirmation,  originally  administered  at  the  time  of 
Baptism,  and  still  so  administered  in  the  Churches  of 
the  East,  came  to  be  separated  from  it  by  an  interval 
of  years,  and  may,  perhaps,  have  had  the  character  of 
an  official  ratification  by  the  Bishop  of  the  action  of  his 
presbyters  in  baptizing  infants.  |A  learned  modern  writer 
represents  Confirmation  as  forming  with  Baptism  but  a 

*  HADDAN  and  STUBBS,  Councils,  iii.  p.  448  (cf.  the  nth  can.  of 
Council  of  Clovesho  in  747. — Ibid.  p.  366). 

t  Canon  MASON,  The  Relation  of  Confirmation  to  Baptism, 


HOLY   BAPTISM  325 

single  Sacrament,  and,  indeed,  forming  the  principal  part 
of  that  Sacrament;  but  the  great  neglect  which  has 
overtaken  Confirmation,  both  in  mediaeval  and  in 
modern  times,  seems  to  suggest  that  this  opinion  was 
not  generally  admitted  in  the  Church.  This  very  brief 
review  of  the  subject  may,  perhaps,  justify  the  state 
ment  that  the  Church  has  always  exacted  securities  for 
the  Christian  up-bringing  of  the  infants  she  has  received 
by  Baptism  into  her  membership,  and  that  apart  from  such 
securities  the  baptism  of  infants  can  find  no  sufficient 
justification. 

(2)  I  advance  to  show  that  under  the  circumstances  of 
urban  life  there  are  no  longer  any  adequate  securities 
for  the  Christian  up-bringing  of  a  very  large  proportion 
of  the  children  who  are  baptized.  The  law  of  the  modern 
Church,  expressed  in  the  Rubrics  of  the  Prayer  Book, 
does,  indeed,  provide  very  careful  regulations  designed  to 
secure  the  religious  nurture  of  the  baptized;  but  the  law 
is  largely  obsolete,  and,  in  many  places,  wholly  unworkable. 
Baptism  is  no  longer  limited  to  the  "children  of  the 
covenant " ;  probably  the  majority  of  English  churchmen 
would  endorse  the  language  of  Hooker  (which  I  am  bound 
to  confess  seems  to  me  to  go  beyond  the  lines  both  of 
reason  and  piety),  and  would  not  be  greatly  averse  to 
ignoring  that  limitation  on  the  ground  that  it  is  "against 
both  equity  and  duty  to  refuse  the  mother  of  believers 
herself,  and  not  to  take  her  in  this  case  (i.e.,  of  parents 
who  are  unbelieving  or  'accursed')  for  a  faithful  parent." 
But  in  this  case  Hooker  supposes,  what  the  primitive 
Church  insisted  upon,  that  adequate  sponsors  are  present, 
prepared  to  take  the  place  of  the  parents.  This  sup 
position,  as  we  shall  see,  cannot  any  longer  be  made. 
The  Rubric  insists  on  the  publicity  of  Baptism.  It  is 
to  be  administered  "when  the  most  number  of  people 


326         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

come  together:  as  well  for  that  the  congregation  there 
present  may  testify  the  receiving  of  them  that  be  newly 
baptized  into  the  number  of  Christ's  Church :  as  also 
because  in  the  Baptism  of  Infants  every  man  present 
may  be  put  in  remembrance  of  his  own  profession  made 
to  God  in  his  Baptism."  The  service,  indeed,  assumes 
throughout  the  presence  of  a  congregation.  But  the 
publicity  which  the  Rubric  was  intended  to  secure  no 
longer  attaches  to  the  administration  of  Holy  Baptism 
in  large  parishes.  The  excessive  (according  to  the  modern 
standard)  lengthening  of  the  service,  and  (a  still  more 
formidable  difficulty)  the  conduct  of  the  infants  (not 
rarely  children  above  the  age  of  two  years)  who,  if  they 
must  be  allowed  to  make  no  resistance  to  the  grace  of 
the  Sacrament,  do  plainly  and  beyond  all  question  resist 
the  Sacrament  itself,  are  practical  obstacles  to  the  carrying 
out  of  the  Rubric,  which  cannot  be  surmounted. 

Let  me  describe  to  you  the  actual  method  of  administer 
ing  Holy  Baptism  in  a  large  urban  parish.  On  a  week- 
night  evening,  or  on  Sunday  afternoons,  times  When  the 
absence  of  the  congregation  can  be  counted  upon,  the 
priest  in  a  large  town  parish  takes  his  stand  at  the  font 
to  administer  the  Sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism  to  all  who 
desire  it.  The  candidates  arrive  in  the  arms  of  their 
mothers,  who  are  sometimes  assisted  on  these  occasions 
by  the  monthly  nurse,  or  a  neighbour  to  whom  baptisms 
and  burials  have  an  attraction  not  possessed  by  the  other 
ordinances  of  religion,  or  a  district  visitor,  or  even,  though 
this  is  almost  unknown,  by  the  father.  No  inquiries  of 
any  kind  are  addressed  to  them  beyond  the  question  with 
which  the  service  begins,  and  the  questions  as  to 
names  and  addresses  necessary  for  the  rilling  in  of  the 
register.  The  service  proceeds ;  there  are  no  sponsors 
save  those  whom  I  have  mentioned.  Often  they  cannot 


HOLY   BAPTISM  327 

read ;  oftener  they  won't.  They  do  not  answer  the 
questions,  so  solemn  and  so  important,  which  are  ad 
dressed  to  the  sponsors;  but  with  persistence  the  priest 
may,  if  he  deem  it  worth  his  while,  succeed  in  getting  them 
to  say  after  him  the  required  responses.  The  service  is 
over  in  half  an  hour,  and  the  party  retires  to  the  pothouse 
and  the  slum.  This  is  no  exaggerated  picture,  not,  thank 
God,  of  all,  perhaps  not  of  most,  but  certainly  of  very 
many  baptisms  as  now  administered  in  large  parishes. 

The  sponsor-system  has  wholly  broken  down.  I  have 
been  at  some  pains  to  ascertain  the  facts.  For  one  great 
parish  with  a  population  of  15,000  souls,  in  which  the 
average  annual  number  of  baptisms  was  about  500,  I  can 
speak  with  the  authority  of  personal  knowledge  and  the 
shame  of  personal  responsibility.  The  majority  of  infants 
were  really  without  sponsors,  for  the  mother  or  friend  who 
brought  them  to  the  font  had  no  idea,  not  even  the  faintest, 
of  spiritual  responsibility  as  attaching  to  the  act.  "  If  the 
rule  about  godparents  were  enforced  in  this  parish,"  writes 
the  vicar  of  a  great  dock  parish  where  more  than  1000 
infants  are  baptized  every  year,  "the  greater  number  of 
children  would  have  to  remain  unbaptized."  "  The  rule 
about  sponsors,"  observes  the  vicar  of  a  large  East -end 
parish,  "  is  wholly  broken."  He  adds  the  following  obser 
vations,  which  I  make  no  apology  for  quoting :  "  The 
effect  of  enforcing  the  rule  in  all  cases  would  med  sententia 
stop  all  baptisms  at  any  church  where  the  rule  was  so 
enforced,  or  possibly  cause  a  reversion  to  the  old  custom 
hereabouts  of  securing  attendance  of  sponsors  by  standing 
'  a  pot,'  which  came  to  be  the  recognized  value  of  a 
sponsor."  "The  chief  effect  of  insisting  on  the  rule  in 
all  cases,  I  feel,"  writes  a  very  well-known  priest,  whose 
opinion  carries  great  weight,  "would  be  that  many  children 
would  die  unbaptized."  "The  rule  about  sponsors,"  writes 


328      APOSTOLIC  CHRISTIANITY 

another,  "  is  fully  observed  in  about  20  per  cent.  There 
is  always  one  sponsor,  but  sometimes  only  the  mother." 
He  calculates  that  the  enforcement  of  the  Rubric  would 
reduce  by  75  per  cent,  the  number  of  baptisms,  and  he 
adds  'this  observation,  "  I  do  not  believe  in  a  stringent 
rule  for  such  parts  as  this.  It  would  lead  to  paid  sponsors, 
as  in  old  days,  or  to  the  neglect  of  baptism."  I  will  add 
but  one  more  expression  of  opinion ;  it  is  from  a  well- 
known  and  highly-respected  East -end  clergyman.  "  If 
the  rule  were  enforced  in  all  cases  it  would  cause  a  great 
grievance,  as  there  is  a  strong  feeling  in  favour  of  having 
the  children  baptized,  and  the  monthly  nurses  seem  to 
have  it  on  their  conscience  to  bring  the  mother  and  child 
before  the  month  is  up,  and  if  the  baptism  is  refused 
because  there  was  no  godfather  or  insufficient  number  of 
godparents  it  would  cause  a  great  scandal ;  on  the  other 
hand,  if  the  male  parent  were  enforced  to  attend  in  order 
that  the  child  might  be  baptized,  it  would  cause  still  greater 
scandal  in  the  fact  of  an  utterly  irreligious  being  compelled 
to  go  through  the  form  of  sponsorship  in  order  to  obtain 
the  baptism  of  his  child.  This,  of  course,  would  be 
aggravated  were  two  male  sponsors  pressed  for."  The 
initial  security  of  sponsors  having  been  dispensed  with, 
it  is  no  matter  for  surprise  that  the  careful  instruction  of 
the  children,  which  sponsors  were  intended  to  ensure,  has 
in  very  many  cases  shared  the  same  fate.  The  common 
assumption  that  in  a  Christian  country,  equipped  with  large 
and  detailed  machinery  of  spiritual  provision,  there  is  a 
general  probability  reaching  even  to  practical  certainty  that 
all  children  will  come  under  Christian  training  cannot  be 
rightly  made.  I  desire  to  make  very  clear  to  you  that  in  a 
large  proportion  of  cases  the  baptized  children  were  suffered 
to  grow  up  without  Christian  instruction.  Two  facts  may 
sufficiently  authenticate  this  statement :  the  remarkably 


HOLY  BAPTISM  329 

small  proportion  of  the  baptized  who  are  presented  for 
Confirmation,  and  the  failure  of  the  religious  bodies  to  get 
the  poorer  children  into  Sunday-schools.  I  estimate  that 
about  one-fourth  of  the  baptized  (who  reach  the  age  of 
Confirmation)  are  actually  confirmed.  Without  wearying 
you  with  statistics,  I  venture  to  submit  that  estimate  with 
some  confidence.  That  75  per  cent,  of  the  baptized  should 
fail  of  Confirmation  gives  the  measure  of  the  practical 
worth  of  the  Rubrics  and  exhortations  of  the  Prayer  Book 
and  Canons.  In  every  parish  with  which  I  am  acquainted, 
and  I  have  taken  great  pains  to  reach  the  facts,  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  children,  and  they  the  poorest  and 
roughest  children,  do  not  attend  the  Sunday-schools,  nor 
if  they  did  would  they  be  much  benefited.  Sunday- 
schools  have  enjoyed,  and  I  believe  do  still  enjoy  in 
some  quarters,  a  considerable  reputation.  This  reputation, 
however,  is  largely  factitious,  arising  less  from  the  merits  of 
the  schools  themselves  than  from  their  importance  in 
current  political  controversy.  It  suits  the  interest  of  the 
Christian  advocate  for  the  de-christianizing  of  the  elemen 
tary  schools  to  make  the  most  of  this  pretended  substitute 
for  doing  the  proper  work  of  those  schools.  The  fanatics 
of  voluntaryism  magnify  a  system  which  is  sufficiently 
certified  by  its  incompetence  to  be  voluntary.  But  Sunday- 
schools  are,  as  far  as  religious  education  is  concerned,  of 
little  real  worth.  There  is  little  teaching  and  no  discipline ; 
the  teachers  know  neither  what  to  teach,  nor  how  to  teach ; 
a  precarious  and  intermittent  attendance  is  secured  by 
periodical  bribes  to  the  children.*  If  any  think  that  the 

*  The  actual  worth  of  the  religious  teaching  of  the  Sunday-school 
may  be  gauged  by  the  fact,  to  which  representatives  of  all  churches 
and  denominations  bear  witness,  that  the  vast  majority  of  Sunday- 
school  scholars  abandon  attendance  at  public  worship  as  soon  as  they 
leave  school.  Personally  I  think  Sunday-schools  not  rarely  have  a 


330         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Sunday-schools  can  take  over  from  the  elementary  schools 
the  task  of  teaching  religion  to  the  poor  and  rough  children, 
he  is  labouring  under  a  delusion  which  a  slight  acquaint 
ance  with  the  facts  of  urban  life  would  speedily  dispel. 
The  home,  the  day-school,  and  the  Church  are  the  three 
agencies  by  which  the  baptized  child  must  be  taught  the 
grace  and  the  duty  of  that  Christian  membership  conferred 
upon  him  (though  often  in  such  strange  fashion)  by  the 
sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism.  But  the  home  is  commonly 
in  no  sense  Christian ;  it  is  a  breach  of  the  law  of  England 
in  most  urban  schools  to  teach  a  baptized  child  the  doc 
trines  of  his  religion :  the  Church,  overweighted  with 
duties,  is  wholly  unable  to  supply  the  defects  of  home 
and  school.  Baptism  in  infancy  in  very  many  cases  repre 
sents  the  entire  contact  with  Christianity  which  our  people 
receive,  until  with  characters  hardened  into  fixed  types, 
with  habits  formed  and  dispositions  developed,  they  pass 
out  of  school  into  the  great  life  of  the  nation. 

(3)  I  submit  to  you,  and  this  is  my  final  proposition, 
that  the  practice  which  works  out  to  this  miserable 
confusion,  the  modern  practice  of  unconditioned,  indis 
criminate  baptizing  is  indecent  in  itself,  discreditable  to 
the  Church,  and  highly  injurious  to  religion.  That  it  is 
indecent  will  hardly  be  disputed  by  any  who  recognize 
the  fidelity  of  the  picture  I  have  drawn  (a  picture  drawn 
from  life)  of  the  existing  method  of  administering  this 
Sacrament  in  the  crowded  urban  parishes.  I  am  not 
preferring  an  indictment  against  my  clerical  brethren; 

direct  effect  in  creating  that  disgust  of  religious  observance  which  is 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the  present  situation.  But 
I  admit  that  the  parish  priest  is  almost  compelled  to  have  a  Sunday- 
school,  thanks  to  the  activity  of  the  Dissenters,  who  are  devoted  to 
that  institution,  and  the  selfishness  of  the  parents,  who  greatly  value 
it  as  a  means  of  taking  their  children  off  their  hands  for  much  of 
Sunday. 


HOLY   BAPTISM  ,331 

the  description  which  I  have  given  was  certainly  true 
of  my  own  parish.  I  associate  myself  absolutely  with 
them;  they,  I  know,  are  much  exercised  in  con 
science  on  the  subject.  That  it  is  discreditable  to  the 
Church  will  not,  I  think,  be  disputed.  Certainly  the 
scandalous  laxity  which  presides  over  the  admission  of 
new  members  into  the  Divine  society  augurs  ill  for  the 
future  discipline  of  those  members.  It  is  notorious  that 
the  indiscriminate  use  of  the  Prayer  Book  services  for 
marriage  and  for  burial  inflicts  acute  distress  on  many 
consciences ;  but  so  long  as  the  mass  of  people,  however 
morally  and  spiritually  unworthy,  are  yet  formally  Christians, 
by  title  of  their  Baptism,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  limit 
the  use  of  these  offices.  It  is  not  charity  to  indulge  in 
the  solemn  mockery  of  their  use  in  the  cases  where  the 
assumption  of  Christianity  cannot  be  reasonably  made ;  it 
is  grievous  and  baleful  imposture.  It  strengthens  in  the 
general  mind  that  insincerity  of  religious  expression  which 
is,  perhaps,  the  besetting  peril  of  those  who  worship  by 
means  of  fixed  formularies.  Here  are  forms,  beautiful, 
full  of  devotion,  instinct  with  the  pure  ardours  of  disciple- 
ship,  and  they  are  used  under  circumstances  which 
transform  them  into  hideous  satire.  It  is  inevitable  that 
the  habit  should  grow  of  regarding  the  language  as  properly 
what  it  plainly  is  actually,  unmeaning,  a  decent  convention, 
a  mere  form,  as  destitute  of  significance  as  the  plumes  on 
the  hearse  and  the  staves  in  the  hirelings'  hands.  The 
habit  required  by  the  abuse  of  one  formulary  readily  extends 
to  the  use  of  another,  and  that  lethargic  acquiescence  of 
unspiritual  people  in  the  use  of  devotional  language  (which 
is  the  bane  of  Anglicanism)  becomes  general.  Our  Church 
life  draws  a  taint  of  hypocrisy  from  the  laxity  with  which 
the  Sacrament  of  the  new  birth  is  administered.  There  is 
a  further  mischief;  the  gravity  of  post -baptismal  sin,  so 


332         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

fearfully  real  to  the  mind  of  the  primitive  Church,  has 
absolutely  perished  from  the  general  mind.  When  no 
difference  is  perceptible  between  the  baptized  and  the 
unbaptized ;  when,  indeed,  as  is  not  rarely  the  case,  the 
fact  of  Baptism  is  only  discovered  by  an  appeal  to  the 
register,  the  baptized  child  having  been  suffered  to  grow  up 
in  total  ignorance  of  the  circumstance,  it  is  manifest  that 
no  distinction  can  be  drawn  between  sin  before  and  sin 
after  Baptism ;  yet  the  authority  of  Holy  Scripture  unites 
with  the  consistent  belief  of  the  early  Church,  a  belief 
wonderfully  expressed  in  that  elaborate  penitential  system, 
which  at  once  amazes  us  by  its  detail  and  appals  us  by  its 
severity,  in  drawing  the  distinction  clearly  and  deeply.  Is 
it  any  marvel  that  our  people  have  come  to  think  so  meanly 
of  the  great  Sacrament,  which  we  ourselves  dishonour  by 
such  amazing  laxity?  Is  it  any  marvel  that  they  easily 
acquiesce  in  the  blasphemy  of  the  modern  Ana-baptist,  or, 
as  he  prefers  to  call  himself,  perhaps  to  conceal  the 
heinousness  of  his  practice,  the  Baptist?  How  can  we 
expect  simple  people  to  revere  a  Sacrament  which  is 
administered  as  we  administer  it?  Our  laxity  lends  a 
plausibility  to  the  doctrines  of  heresy,  which  in  themselves 
they  do  not  possess.  We  are  ourselves  mainly  responsible 
for  that  low  estimate  of  Holy  Baptism  which  we  deplore  in 
our  people.  Is  it  indeed  to  Christ  that  we  bring  these 
children,  whom  we  so  baptize  that  they  never  know  they 
are  Christ's?  Have  we  any  authority  thus  recklessly  to 
bestow  the  Gift  of  the  Regenerating  Spirit?  I  say  with 
Tertullian,  though  far  indeed  from  endorsing  his  views, 
"There  will  be  more  caution  used  in  worldly  matters. 
Cautius  agetur  in  secularibus  ut  cui  substantia  terrena  non 
creditur,  divina  credatur." 

It  is  easy  to  build  up  an  indictment,  it  is  not  so  easy 
to   find   the   remedy   even   for    admitted   abuses.     Yet   I 


HOLY   BAPTISM  333 

cannot  accept  the  position  that  nothing  can  be  done  to 
rescue  the  Sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism  from  the  contempt 
into  which  it  has  been  permitted  to  fall.  We  must  un 
doubtedly  be  content  to  act  slowly.  The  existing  system 
has  been  gradually  developed,  and  it  is  firmly  rooted.  It 
must  be  gradually  reformed ;  at  least,  the  attempt  can  be 
made  and  ought  to  be  made  to  direct  the  mind  of  the 
Church  to  the  subject.  It  is  not,  brethren,  only  among 
the  very  poor  that  the  obligations  of  sponsorship  are  lightly 
regarded,  and  not  rarely  altogether  ignored.  If  it  were 
matter  of  conscience  among  the  professed  members  of  the 
Church  to  give  meaning  to  the  solemn  language  of  the 
Prayer  Book  on  this  subject,  I  am  very  sure  the  effect  for 
good  would  be  felt  widely.  I  plead  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  twenty-ninth  of  the  Canons  of  1603,  wherever  reason 
ably  practicable,  at  least  for  the  general  assertion  of  the 
principle  which  that  Canon  enshrines,  when  it  enacts  that 
no  person  "  shall  be  admitted  godfather  or  godmother 
to  any  child  at  Christening  or  Confirmation  before  the  said 
person  so  undertaking  hath  received  the  Holy  Com 
munion."  In  the  great  urban  parishes,  at  least,  the 
practice  of  canvassing  for  Baptism  might  be  stopped. 
District  visitors  have  much  to  answer  for  in  this  matter. 
Much  would  be  gained  if  it  were  made  clear  by  those  in 
authority,  and  especially  by  their  Lordships  the  Bishops, 
that  this  urging  of  Baptism  where  there  are  no  securities 
for  Christian  up-bringing  is  indefensible  and  mischievous. 
I  think  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  direct  the  devotion 
of  Communicant  Guilds  to  the  subject.  Why  should  not 
the  pious  zeal,  which  S.  Augustine  describes  as  marking 
the  consecrated  virgins  of  the  primitive  Church,  be 
emulated  by  modern  Christians  who  would  undertake, 
always  with  the  full  consent  of  the  parents,  to  stand  as 
sponsors  to  the  children  of  the  very  poor?  The  energies 


334         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

which  are  now  wasted  in  Sunday-schools  might  be  most 
happily  employed  in  the  instruction  of  god-children.  Why 
should  not  sponsorship  take  its  place  among  the  recognized 
works  of  the  Church  ?  A  guild  of  sponsors— all  communi 
cants — combined  for  mutual  counsel  and  intercession 
might  be  a  source  of  great  blessing  to  a  parish.  The 
general  standard  of  duty  in  the  matter  would  be  raised, 
and  it  might  be  possible  to  advance  towards  a  real 
enforcement  of  the  Rubrics.  When  all,  however,  is  done 
that  can  be  done,  I  cannot  conceal  from  myself  that  we 
must  face  the  necessity  of  greatly  reducing  the  number  of 
the  baptized.  It  goes  against  the  grain,  I  know,  to  even  in 
appearance  hedge  round  the  Sacrament  with  restrictions. 
We  dread  calling  forth  against  ourselves  that  ''indigna 
tion  "  which  was  provoked  in  our  Saviour  by  those  officious 
disciples,  who  would  have  barred  the  babes  from  His 
presence,  and  if,  indeed,  the  withholding  of  Baptism 
involved  that  consequence  our  anxiety  would  be  well- 
founded  ;  but  who  would  adventure  to  affirm  so  much  ?  I 
submit  that  our  present  laxity  rather  hinders  than  facilitates 
access  to  Christ.  We  degrade  religion,  we  create  stumbling- 
blocks,  we  hurt  consciences,  we  endanger  the  Church. 
Can  it  be  truly  said  that  we  help  the  children  for  whose 
sake  we  incur  such  losses  ?  When  at  least  seventy  per  cent, 
of  the  urban  population  is  baptized  and — as  His  Lordship 
of  London  has  recently  informed  us — less  than  five  per 
cent,  receives  the  Holy  Communion,  it  is  evident  that  we 
have  reached  a  state  in  which  it  is  impossible  to  acquiesce 
and  to  retain  the  self-respect  of  our  discipleship.  The  fact 
that  the  irreligious  masses  are  baptized  hinders  the 
missionary  action  of  the  Church.  The  Christian  preacher  is 
deprived  of  his  true  objective,  he  cannot  call  sinners  to  the 
" Washing  of  regeneration"  he  has  to  persuade  them  that 
they  are  already  washed.  It  would  be  interesting  on  this 


HOLY   BAPTISM  335 

point  to  know  the  opinion  of  the  mission-preachers  of  the 
Church,  now  a  numerous  body.  I  do  not,  however,  think 
the  practical  convenience  or  inconvenience  of  any  practice 
demonstrably  indefensible  ought  to  be  admitted  into  the 
discussion  of  the  Church's  duty  with  regard  to  it.  I 
submit  that  the  existing  method  of  administering  Holy 
Baptism  is  as  little  consistent  with  the  dignity  of  the 
Sacrament  as  it  is  congruous  with  the  practice  of  the 
Church  in  past  ages.  I  have  shown  that  it  violates  the 
actual  law  of  the  Church,  and  I  have  endeavoured  to  show 
that  it  involves  grave  and  extended  scandal.  If  my 
contentions  are  as  sound  as  they  are  sincere  I  have  made 
out  a  case  for  immediate  and  thorough,  though  cautious 
and  gradual  reform. 


THE 

SOCIAL    INFLUENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

S.  MATTHEW  v.  13. 

PREACHED  ON  THE  SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  LENT,  MARCH  6TH,  1898, 
IN  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earM"—S.  MATTHEW  v.  13. 

THERE  are  no  speculations  at  once  more  attractive  and 
more  precarious  than  those  which  attempt  to  estimate 
the  social  results  of  religions.  The  attractiveness  is  obvious 
and  intelligible.  Religion  is  the  most  deeply  interesting 
thing  in  the  world.  Whether  it  attract  or  repel,  this 
quality  of  interest  is  always  present.  Religion  appeals  to 
the  deepest  elements  of  human  nature,  and  it  raises  every 
question  into  which  it  enters  on  to  a  higher  platform.  The 
conscience  is  directly  concerned,  the  heart  is  directly 
affected,  the  imagination  is  powerfully  stirred  by  every 
religious  appeal.  There  is  always  the  solemn  charm  of 
mystery  ;  the  chance,  always  moving  in  the  background  of 
the  mind  and  disturbing  the  order  of  thought,  that  there 
may  be  truth  in  claims,  apparently  the  most  extravagant; 
validity  in  reasonings,  apparently  the  most  grotesque.  In 
the  religious  sphere  the  spirit  is  oppressed  by  an  ignorance 
so  profound  that  a  positive  attitude  seems  an  outrage  on 
modesty.  Where  it  is  certain  that  all  know  so  little,  who 
shall  be  sure  that  he  really  knows  anything  at  all?  And 
yet  there  is  no  subject  upon  which  men  speak  so  con- 

336 


INFLUENCE    OF    CHRISTIANITY        337 

fidently.  The  results  of  religion  upon  the  characters  and 
fortunes  of  nations  are  reckoned  up  and  set  down  with 
amazing  precision,  and  the  estimates  are  as  various  as  they 
are  precise.  Moreover,  it  is  difficult  to  discover  the  prin 
ciples  of  investigation  which  have  been  followed.  Yet  it 
would  seem  that  no  inquiries  more  plainly  demand  careful 
adhesion  to  sound  principles.  For  none  are  more  in 
herently  difficult.  The  complexity  of  human  life  is  such 
that  no  force  works  in  isolation.  There  is  a  subtle  and 
constant  interplay  of  forces,  out  of  which  results  emerge 
which  may  not  rightly  be  ascribed  to  any  single  cause. 
Again,  causes  disguise  themselves  wonderfully,  and  the 
effects  of  one  factor  are  easily  mistaken  for  those  of 
another.  A  large  uncertainty  must  always  attach  to  all 
conclusions  as  to  the  social  results  of  religion. 

11 Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth"  Our  Lord  distinctly 
attributes  to  His  Church  the  character  of  a  social  force. 
"»$#// "is  the  familiar  symbol  of  that  which  purifies  and 
preserves.  Among  the  Jews  it  was  not  merely,  as  among 
ourselves,  an  article  of  common  domestic  use,  but  also  an 
important  element  in  the  sacrificial  service  of  religion. 
Elsewhere  our  Lord  directly  refers  to  the  religious  use  of 
salt.  "  For  everyone  shall  be  salted  with  fire.  Salt  is  good, 
but  if  tJie  salt  have  lost  its  salt  ness,  wherewith  will  ye  season 
it?  Have  salt  in  yourselves,  and  be  at  peace  one  with 
another"  An  ancient  reading,  now  by  the  revisers  rele 
gated  to  the  margin,  adds  the  words,  "  and  every  sacrifice 
shall  be  salted  with  salt" 

" Ye  are  tJie  salt  of  the  earth"  Our  Lord  avoids  the 
abstract  terms  in  which  modem  philosophers  and  reformers 
so  freely  indulge.  We  are  apt  to  forget  that  "  Christianity  " 
is  only  a  synonym  for  Christians  themselves  when  we  are 
discussing  social  questions.  "  Ye,  i.e.  My  disciples,  are 
the  salt  of  the  earth"  Perhaps  the  truest  guide  to  a  due 

z 


333         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

estimate  of  the  social  influence  of  Christianity  is  the  study 
of  individual  discipleship.  How  does  a  Christian  man's 
creed  affect  his  social  conduct  ?  Evidently  to  a  very  large 
extent  the  behaviour  and  influence  of  the  Christian  in 
society  have  no  relation  whatever  to  his  religion.  The 
determining  factors  for  the  most  part  lie  outside  the  range 
of  his  own  choice.  His  place  in  society  is  prescribed  for 
him ;  his  powers  of  body  and  mind  are  not  such  as  he 
might  have  chosen  for  himself;  he  acts  under  the  authority 
of  laws,  traditions,  customs,  conventions,  fashions,  ideas 
which  are,  as  the  climate,  wholly  outside  his  control. 
Where  is  there  any  place  for  the  action  of  his  discipleship  ? 
How  shall  he  be  the  "  salt  of  the  earth  "  ?  I  do  not  think 
it  sufficient  to  answer  that  he  must  be  truthful,  honest, 
just,  industrious.  So  much  is  required  of  all  good  citizens  ; 
so  much  the  general  consent  of  reasonable  men  demands 
and  approves.  Without  doubt  the  Christian  will  have 
motives  for  his  civic  virtue  which  his  religion,  and  only 
his  religion,  could  provide ;  but  we  are  not  now  discussing 
motives.  The  social  worth  of  virtue  is  independent  of 
its  motives.  I  suppose  the  social  influence  of  the  Christian 
citizen  will  reduce  itself  to  the  single  category  of  character. 
How  far  does  the  Christian  gain  for  himself  "  the  mind  of 
Christ""}  How  far  does  his  social  influence  reflect  the 
Christian  character?  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  opens 
with  a  description  of  the  Christian  character.  This  is  the 
purpose  of  the  Beatitudes.  Christ  shows  the  constituent 
elements  of  that  character  which  should  express  disciple 
ship,  and  constitute  His  followers  the  "satt"  and  the 
"light"  of  society. 

"  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."  Christians  are  to  rebuke 
and  disprove  the  wisdom  of  the  world  by  setting  before 
society  the  spectacle  of  lives  governed  by  other  principles, 
directed  to  other  ends,  and  by  that  very  fact  bringing  into 


INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY         339 

the  world's  life  a  purifying  influence  which  can  restrain  the 
action  of  the  normal  corruption,  and  quicken  society  with 
new  moral  energy.  We  know  but  too  well  that  Christian 
lives  are  often  strangely  unworthy  expositions  of  the  Mind 
of  Christ.  We  know  also  how  prone  men  are  to  credit 
Christianity  with  the  very  faults  which  Christianity  is 
unable  to  restrain.  The  ill-conduct  of  Christians  is  a 
great,  nay,  the  very  greatest  stumbling-block  in  the  way 
of  Christianity — though  in  itself  such  ill-conduct  argues 
nothing  against  the  religion  it  disgraces.  So  in  reviewing 
the  history  of  civilization,  or  striving  to  interpret  the 
enigma  of  contemporary  society,  the  student  must  be  on 
his  guard  against  crediting  Christianity  with  scandals  which 
may  indicate  rather  the  defeat  than  the  triumph  of 
Christian  principles.  It  is  easy  to  build  up  a  formidable 
case  against  the  Church  if  you  limit  your  inquiry  and 
select  your  facts.  Thus  it  has  been  argued  with  much 
plausibility  that  Christianity  has  favoured  slavery,  resisted 
political  liberty,  even  degraded  the  female  sex.  It  is 
obvious  that  for  such  contentions  much  may  be  said. 
There  is  a  copious  literature  of  social  and  political  servility 
which  professes  to  be  Christian,  and  the  doctrines  of 
ascetism  were  certainly  degrading  to  womankind ;  yet  a 
very  little  reflection  will  demonstrate  the  paradoxical 
character  of  all  such  contentions.  Slavery  has  perished 
throughout  Christendom ;  political  liberty  is  unknown 
outside  that  sphere;  nowhere  else  is  the  position  of 
woman  so  honourable  and  so  secure.  Such  results  carry 
the  vindication  of  Christianity  from  the  suspicions  which 
are  suggested  by  some  facts  of  Christian  history.  The 
real  drift  of  Christ's  Religion  shows  itself  on  a  broad 
view  of  the  facts,  and  we  should  be  mad  reasoners  if  we 
interpreted  the  details  without  regard  to  the  general 
effect 


340         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

Then,  I  think,  we  should  always  remember  the  extreme 
difficulty  of  the  material  upon  which  Christianity  has  to 
act.  Human  nature  is  a  very  intractable  material  from 
which  to  fashion  the  fair  creations  of  social  righteousness. 
It  takes  impressions  very  gradually ;  it  learns  very  slowly 
and  by  definite  stages.  It  would  seem  that  the  elements  of 
right  have  to  be  beaten  into  the  dull  intelligence  of  the  race 
one  by  one.  Here,  perhaps,  is  the  explanation  of  some  of 
the  problems  of  Christian  history.  How  can  you  reconcile, 
men  ask,  the  severe,  penitential  system  of  the  early  Church 
with  the  compassion  of  the  Gospel,  or  the  extravagant 
exaltation  of  celibacy  with  the  Christian  doctrine  of 
marriage,  or  the  detailed  legalism  of  the  mediaeval  Church 
with  the  spirituality  of  Christ's  teaching?  Perhaps  the 
answer  must  be  found  in  the  actual  conditions  of  men's 
apprehension  of  the  truth.  Before  the  compassion  of 
the  Gospel  can  minister  to  righteousness  the  gravity  of 
sin  must  have  been  grasped;  and  that  lesson  was  effectu 
ally  taught  by  the  iron  system  of  primitive  penance. 
Before  the  true  nobility  of  marriage  can  be  understood 
men  must  learn  the  lesson  of  chastity ;  and  that  lesson 
was  printed  indelibly  on  the  general  mind  by  the  ascetics. 
Before  spiritual  liberty  can  be  securely  proposed  the  majesty 
of  the  law  must  have  been  understood ;  and  that,  perhaps, 
was  borne  in  on  men's  minds  by  the  masterful  government 
of  the  mediaeval  Church.  There  is  advance  in  the 
religious  education  of  mankind.  The  truth  is  not  grasped 
at  once,  but  gradually  and  fragmentarily,  "by  divers  portions 
and  in  divers  manners"  The  partial  teaching,  regarded 
from  the  standpoint  of  complete  knowledge,  has  a  repulsive 
appearance ;  insisted  on  in  the  teeth  of  wider  teachings  it 
may  be  really  mischievous ;  but  in  its  own  time  it  matched 
the  urgent  necessities  of  the  race,  and  provided  the  in 
dispensable  condition  of  moral  progress.  The  influence 


INFLUENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY        341 

of  the  Church  has  ever  been  exerted  upon  actual  society ; 
it  has,  therefore,  taken  a  myriad  forms,  addressing  itself 
to  the  varying  circumstances  of  human  living,  but  always 
it  has  proved  itself  a  purifying  and  preserving  force,  "the 
salt  of  the  earth." 

Three  things,  perhaps,  are  always  contributed  by  Christi 
anity  to  the  welfare  of  society.  The  Gospel  brings  to  the 
world  the  gift  of  social  hope.  It  upholds  a  social  ideal, 
not  as  a  mere  aspiration,  still  less  as  a  satire  on  the 
world's  life,  but  as  a  practicable  object,  which  can  be 
gained  and  which  will  be  gained.  The  Christian  may 
not  despair  of  society,  however  unpromising  the  social 
outlook  may  be.  He  believes  that  the  Almighty  has  a 
purpose  to  fulfil  in  human  history,  and  that  the  course 
of  the  world's  life  is  not  wholly  independent  of  His  will. 
Moreover,  the  Gospel  brings  to  everyone  who  receives  it 
the  conviction  that  social  service  is  a  religious  duty.  The 
selfish  withdrawal  from  the  social  task,  whether  in  despair 
or  in  self-absorption,  is  the  repudiation  of  a  Divine  Com 
mission.  Every  Christian  feels  a  certain  responsibility  for 
the  world's  sin,  and  for  the  sorrows  which  at  once  reflect 
and  avenge  it.  Christ's  example  challenges  every  disciple. 
"  We  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  Afe,  while  it 
is  day:  the  night  comet h  when  no  man  can  work."  The 
world  is  saved  from  acquiescing  in  its  scandals  by  the 
Divine  indignation  of  Christ's  disciples.  There  is  no 
conspicuous  evil  of  human  society  which  has  not  provoked 
the  resentment  of  the  Christian  conscience.  In  the  back 
ground  of  every  Christian's  mind  is  the  conviction  that 
it  is  his  duty  to  resist  evil  where  it  meets  him,  and  to 
attack  abuses  when  they  cross  his  path.  Finally,  the 
Gospel  brings  to  everyone  who  receives  it  the  conviction 
that  personal  righteousness  is  a  social  duty  and  the  con 
dition  of  social  service.  Primarily  the  Christian's  task  is 


342         APOSTOLIC   CHRISTIANITY 

to  illustrate  in  his  own  sphere  the  mind  of  Christ.  The 
Christian  conscience  has  always  chafed  against  any  sever 
ance  of  the  disciple's  practice  from  his  profession.  In  the 
early  centuries  the  custom  obtained  among  persons  who 
made  pretensions  to  piety  to  adorn  their  garments  with 
sacred  pictures  in  place  of  those  commonly  adopted. 
"  Bedizened  with  such  figures  they  supposed — as  Austerius, 
Bishop  of  Amasia  in  Pontus,  in  the  last  half  of  the  fourth 
century,  asserts — that  their  dress  must  be  well-approved  in 
the  sight  of  God.  This  excellent  churchman  advises  them 
rather  to  dispose  of  such  garments,  for  as  much  as  they 
would  bring,  and  use  the  proceeds  to  honour  the  living 
images  of  God;  instead  of  carrying  about  the  sick  of  the 
palsy  on  their  garments,  rather  to  look  up  the  actually  sick 
and  relieve  them ;  instead  of  wearing  on  their  bodies  a 
kneeling  penitent  in  embroidery,  rather  to  mourn  over 
their  own  sins  with  a  penitent  spirit."* 

Such  has  always  been  the  attitude  of  the  Christian 
conscience  towards  the  parade  of  piety.  Translate  your 
creed  into  conduct,  give  a  social  expression  to  disciple- 
ship,  be  yourself  the  illustration  of  your  religion. 

In  so  contributing  to  the  world's  life  the  elements  of 
hope,  of  duty,  and  of  personal  discipline  Christianity 
counteracts  deep,  normal  tendencies  making  for  corruption 
and  decay,  and  literally  fulfils  the  Word  of  the  Divine 
Founder,  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth." 

The  civilization  of  antiquity  broke  down  beneath  the 
burden  of  its  own  pollutions;  the  machinery  of  govern 
ment  could  not  sustain  the  cynical  wickedness  of  those 
who  worked  it.  Philosophy  had  no  message  of  hope,  no 
power  of  moral  restoration,  no  coercive  motive  of  self- 
discipline.  It  sank  into  satire  and  despair.  The  civiliza 
tions  of  the  East  appear  to  contain  no  quickening  principle, 
*  NEANDER,  vol.  iii.  p.  388. 


INFLUENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY        343 

detecting  abuses,  waging  war  with  them,  always  straining 
and  striving  after  social  advance — they  petrify  and}pass. 

The  latest  civilization  of  the  West — if  by  so  great  a 
name  we  may  describe  the  achievement  of  the  century's 
labour  to  banish  the  Christian  elements  from  a  society 
which  has  grown  from  the  depths  of  savagery  to  the  heights 
of  an  unequalled  culture,  under  the  tutelary  influence  of 
the  Church — seems  to  discover  a  fatal  inability  to  secure 
uprightness  of  character.  Prodigal  of  brave  doctrines,  of 
social  duty,  the  secularist  is  doomed  to  see  his  hopes 
dashed  to  pieces  on  the  sunken  rocks  of  human  selfishness. 
At  the  summit  of  material  prosperity  society  threatens  to 
collapse  in  a  bankruptcy  of  character.  Christianity  in  the 
social  sphere  stands  for  hope  and  the  sense  of  duty,  and 
the  diffused  leaven  of  personal  righteousness;  and  let  us  lay 
it  well  to  heart,  Christianity  is  but  the  sum  of  the  various 
moral  impressions  of  individual  Christian  lives.  Upon  us 
all — who  own  ourselves  the  disciples  of  Christ,  who  in 
Holy  Baptism  were  solemnly  sealed  as  His  "  soldiers  and 
servants  " — lies  the  great  obligation  to  be  in  our  several 
spheres  the  exponents  of  the  Gospel,  not  merely,  if  at 
all,  in  word  of  formal  teaching,  not  often,  if  ever,  by 
the  violences  of  political  action,  but  always  and  everywhere 
by  the  silent,  ceaseless  testimony  of  righteous  lives — lives 
which  visibly  bear  the  Christian  stamp,  which  are  a 
continual  rebuke  to  all  the  baseness  of  the  world,  a 
continual  challenge  to  all  the  goodness  in  society — lives 
which,  wherever  lived,  in  cottage  or  in  palace,  in 
"  the  strife  of  tongues  and  the  tumult  of  the  city"  or  amid 
the  solemn  silences  of  immemorial  hills,  are  great,  and 
lofty,  and  fruitful,  pouring  into  the  general  life  unfailing 
streams  of  purity  and  hope,  the  "  salt"  and  "light"  of  the 
earth. 


PLYMOUTH 

WILIIAM    BRKNDON    AND   SON 
PRINTERS 


A  CATALOGUE  OF    BOOKS 

PUBLISHED  BY  METHUEN 

AND  COMPANY:  LONDON 

36  ESSEX  STREET 

W.C 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

General  Literature,   .        .        .  2-19 

Ancient  Cities,        ...  19 

Antiquary's  Books,        .  20 

Beginner's  Books,  ...  20 

Business  Books,  ao 

Byzantine  Texts,    ...  21 

Churchman's  Bible,       .        .  21 

Churchman's  Library,  .        .  21 

Classical  Translations,          .  21 

Commercial  Series,        .        .  22 

Connoisseur's  Library,          .  22 

Library  of  Devotion,      .        .  23 

Standard  Library,           .        .  23 

Half-Crown  Library,     .        .  24 
Illustrated  Pocket  Library  of 

Plain  and  Coloured  Books,  24 

Junior  Examination  Series,  26 

Junior  School-Books,     .        .  26 

Leaders  of  Religion,      .        .  27 


PAGE 

Little  Blue  Books,          .        .  27 

Little  Books  on  Art,      .        .  27 

Little  Galleries,       ...  28 

Little  Guides,  ....  28 

Little  Library,         ...  28 

Miniature  Library,         .         .  30 

Oxford  Biographies,       .        .  30 

School  Examination  Series,  30 

Social  Questions  of  To-day,  31 

Textbooks  of  Science,  .        .  31 

Textbooks  of  Technology     .  31 

Handbooks  of  Theology,       .  31 

Westminster  Commentaries,  32 

Fiction, 33.36 

The  Strand  Novels,       .        .  37 

Books  for  Boys  and  Girls,  .  38 

Novels  of  Alexandre  Dumas,  38 

Methuen's  Sixpenny  Books,  39 


FEBRUARY     1906 


A  CATALOGUE  OF 

MESSRS.    METHUEN'S 

PUBLICATI  ONS 


Colonial  Editions  are  published  of  all  Messrs.  METHUEN'S  Novels  issued 
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I.P.L.  represents  Illustrated  Pocket  Library. 

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PART  I. — GENERAL  LITERATURE 


Abbot  (Jacob).     See  Little  Blue  Books. 

Abbott  (J.  H.  M.).  Author  of  'Tommy 
Cornstalk.1  AN  OUTLANDER  IN 
ENGLAND:  BEING  SOME  IMPRESSIONSOF 
AN  AUSTRALIAN  ABROAD.  Second  Edition. 
Cr.  8vo.  6s. 

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AcatOS  (M.  J.).     See  Junior  School  Books. 

Adams  (Frank).  JACKSPRATT.  With  24 
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Adeney  (W.  F.),  M.A.  See  Bennett  and 
Adeney. 

/Eschylus.     See  Classical  Translations. 

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Ainsworth  (W.  Harrison).     See  I.P.L. 

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Portraits    and    Illustrations.      Demy    Zro. 
7s.  6d.  net. 
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Alexander  (William),  D.D.,  Archbishop 
of  Armagh.  THOUGHTS  AND 
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Alken  (Henry).  THE  NATIONAL 
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A 


Hodgson  (Mrs.  W.)  HOW  TO  IDENTIFY 
OLD  CHINESE  PORCELAIN.  Second 
Edition.  Post  8vo.  6s. 

Hogg  (Thomas  Jefferson).  SHELLEY 
AT  OXFORD.  With  an  Introduction  by 
R.  A.  STREATFEILD.  Fcap.  8vo.  is.  net. 

Holden-Stone  (Q.  de).  See  Books  on 
Business. 

Holdich  (Sir  T.  H.),  K.C.I.E.  THE 
INDIAN  BORDERLAND:  being  a 
Personal  Record  of  Twenty  Years.  Illus 
trated  .  Demy  Zvo.  10$.  6d.  net. 

A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

Holds-worth  (W.  S.),  M.A.  A  HISTORY 
OF  ENGLISH  LAW.  In.  Two  Volumes. 
Vol.  I.  Demy  8vo.  103.  6d.  net. 

Holland  (Canon  Scott).  See  Library  of 
Devotion. 

Holt  (Emily).  THE  SECRET  OF  POPU 
LARITY  :  How  to  Achieve  Social  Success. 
Cr.  Bvt>.  3^.  6d.  net. 

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HoIyoake(Q.  J.).  THE  CO-OPERATIVE 
MOVEMENT  TO-DAY.  Fourth  Edition. 
Cr.  8v o.  2S.  6d. 

Hone  (Nathaniel  J.).  See  Antiquary's  Books. 

Hoppner.     See  Little  Galleries. 

Horace.     See  Classical  Translations. 

Horsburgh  (E.  L.  S.),  M.A.  WATERLOO  : 
A  Narrative  and  Criticism.  With  Plans. 
Second  Edition.  Cr.  8vo.  $s.  See  also 
Oxford  Biographies. 

Horth(A.  C.).  See  Textbooks  of  Technology. 

Horton(R.  F.),D.D.  See  Leaders  of  Religion. 

Hosie  (Alexander).    MANCHURIA.   With 
Illustrations  and  a  Map.     Second  Edition. 
Dtmy  8z>0.     7*.  6d.  net. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

How  (F.  D.).  SIX  GREAT  SCHOOL 
MASTERS.  With  Portraits  and  Illustra 
tions  Second  Edition.  DemySvo.  js.  6d. 

HoweIl(Q.).    SeeS.  Q.  S. 

Hudson  (Robert).  MEMORIALS  OF  A 
WARWICKSHIRE  PARISH.  Illustrated. 
Demy  8z>0.  15*.  net. 

Hughes  (C.  E.).  THE  PRAISE  OF 
SHAKESPEARE.  An  English  Anthol 
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Demy  8vo.  3*.  6<t.  net. 

Hughes  (Thomas).  TOM  BROWN'S 
SCHOOLDAYS.  With  an  Introduction 
and  Notes  by  VERNON  RBNDALL.  Leather. 
Royal  -$-21110.  vs.  6d.  net. 

Hutchinson  (Horace  G.)  THE  NEW 
FOREST.  Illustrated  in  colour  with 
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by  Miss  LUCY  KEMP  WELCH.  Large 
Demy  Zvo.  -z\s.  net. 

Hutton  (A.  W.),  M.A.  See  Leaders  of 
Religion  and  Library  of  Devotion. 

Hutton  (Edward).  THE  CITIES  OF 
UMBRIA.  With  many  Illustrations,  of 
which  20  are  in  Colour,  by  A.  PISA.  Second 
Edition.  Cr.  8-y0.  6s. 

A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

2 


10 


MESSRS.  METHUEN'S  CATALOGUE 


ENGLISH  LOVE  POEMS.  Edited  with 
an  Introduction.  Fcap.  Svo.  3$.  6d.  net. 

Hutton  (R.  H.).     See  Leaders  of  Religion. 

Mutton  (W.  H.).  M.A.  THE  LIFE  OF 
SIR  THOMAS  MORE.  With  Portraits. 
Second  Edition.  Cr.  Svo.  $s.  See  also 
Leaders  of  Religion. 

Hyett  (F.  A.).  A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF 
FLORENCE.  Demy  Svo.  7s.  6d.  net. 

Ibsen  (Henrik).  BRAND.  A  Drama. 
Translated  by  WILLIAM  WILSON.  Third 
Edition.  Cr.  Svo.  3*.  6d. 

Inge  (W.  R.),  M.A.,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of 
Hertford  College,  Oxford.  CHRISTIAN 
MYSTICISM.  The  Bampton  Lectures  for 
1899.  Demy  Svo.  12*.  6d.  net.  See  also 
Library  of  Devotion. 

lnnes(A.  D.),  M.A.  A  HISTORY  OF  THE 
BRITISH  IN  INDIA.  With  Maps  and 
Plans.  Cr.  Svo.  6s. 

ENGLAND  UNDER  THE  TUDORS. 
With  Maps.  Demy  Svo.'  los.  6d.  net. 

Jackson  (C.  E.),  B.A.  See  Textbooks  of 
Science. 

Jackson  (S.),  M.A.     See  Commercial  Series. 

Jackson  (F.  Hamilton).     See  Little  Guides. 

Jacob  (P.),  M.A.  See  Junior  Examination 
Series. 

Jeans  (J.  Stephen).  See  S.  Q.  S.  and  Busi 
ness  Books. 

Jeffreys(D.  Gwyn).  DOLLY'S  THE ATRI- 
CALS.  Described  and  Illustrated  with  24 
Coloured  Pictures.  Super  Royali6mo.  zs.6d. 

Jenks  (E.),  M.A.,  Reader  of  Law  in  the 
University  of  Oxford.  ENGLISH  LOCAL 
GOVERNMENT.  Cr.  Svo.  zs.  6d. 

Jenner  (Mrs.  H.).     See  Little  Books  on  Art. 

Jessopp  (Augustus),  D.D.  See  Leaders  of 
Religion. 

kJevons(F.  B.),  M.A.,  Litt.D.,  Principal  of 
Hatfield  Hall,  Durham.  RELIGION  IN 
EVOLUTION.  Cr.  8w.  3*.  6d.  net. 

See  also  Churchman's  Library  and  Hand 
books  of  Theology. 

Johnson  (Mrs.  Barham).  WILLIAM  BOD- 
HAM  DONNE  AND  HIS  FRIENDS. 
Illustrated.  Demy  Svo.  \os.6d.net. 

Johnston  (Sir  H.  H.),  K.C.B.  BRITISH 
CENTRAL  AFRICA.  With  nearly  200 
Illustrations  and  Six  Maps.  Third  Edition. 
Cr.  4to.  iSs.  net. 

A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

Jones  (R.  Crorapton),  M.A.  POEMS 
OF  THE  INNER  LIFE.  Selected  by. 
Elei>enth  Edition.  Fcap.  Svo.  zs.  6d.  net. 

Jones  (H.).     See  Commercial  Series. 

Jones  (L.  A.  Atherley),  K.C.,  M.P.,  and 
Bellot  (Hugh  H.  LO.  THE  MINERS- 
GUIDE  TO  THE  COAL  MINES 
REGULATION  ACTS.  Cr.Svo.  zs.  6d.  net. 

"COMMERCE  IN  WAR.  Demy  Svo.  2is. 
mi. 

Jon  son  (Ben).     See  Standard  Library. 


Julian  (Lady)  of  Norwich.  REVELA- 
TIONS  OF  DIVINE  LOVE.  Edited  by 
GRACE  WARRACK.  Cr.  Svo.  3.1.  6d. 

Juvenal.     See  Classical  Translations. 

'Kappa.'  LET  YOUTH  BUT  KNOW: 
A  Plea  for  Reason  in  Education.  Cr.  Svo. 
35.  6d.  net. 

Kaufmann  (M.).     See  S.  Q.  S. 

Keating  (J.  F.),  D.D.  THE  AGAPE  AND 
THE  EUCHARIST.  Cr.  Svo. .3*.  6d. 

Keats  (John).  THE  POEMS  OF.  Editec 
with  Introduction  and  Notes  by  E.  de  Selin 
court,  M.A.  Demy  Svo.  js.  6d.  net.  See 
also  Little  Library,  Standard  Library,  and 
E.  de  Selincourt. 

Keble(John).  THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR. 
With  an  Introduction  and  Notes  by  W.  LOCK, 
D.D.,  Warden  of  Keble  College.  Illustrated 
byR.ANNiNaBELL.  Third  Edition.  Fcap. 
Svo.  3* .  6d.  ;  padded  morocco^  5*.  See  also 
Library  of  Devotion. 

Kempis  (Thomas  a).  THE  IMITATION 
OF  CHRIST.  With  an  Introduction  by 
DEAN  FARRAR.  Illustrated  by  C.  M.  GERE. 
Third  Edition.  Fcap.Svo.  3* .  6d. ;  padded 
morocco.  55.  See  also  Library  of  Devotion 
and  Standard  Library. 

Also  Translated  by  C.  BIGG,  D.D.     Cr. 
Svo.     3*.  6d 

Kennedy     (Bart.).        THE     GREEN 
SPHINX.     Cr.Svo.     3*.  6d.  net. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

Kennedy  (James  Houghton),  D.D.,  Assist 
ant  Lecturer  in  Divinity  in  the  University  of 
Dublin.  ST.  PAUL'S  SECOND  AND 
THIRD  EPISTLES  TO  THE  CORIN- 
THI ANS.  With  Introduction,  Dissertations 
and  Notes.  Cr.  Svo.  6s.  ' 

Kestell  (J.  D.).   THROUGH  SHOT  AND 
FLAME  :   Being  the  Adventures  and   Ex 
periences  of  J.  D.  KESTELL,  Chaplain   to 
General  Christian  de  Wet.      Cr.  Svo.    6s. 
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Kimmins  (C.  W.),  M.A.  THE  CHEMIS 
TRY  OF  LIFE  AND  HEALTH.  Illus- 
trated.  Cr.  Svo.  2s.  6d. 

Kinglake  (A.  W.).     See  Litt.e  Library. 

Kipling  (Rudyard).      BARRACK-ROOM 
BALLADS.       7$rd    Thousand.      Twenty- 
first  Edition.    Cr.  Svo.     6s. 
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THE  SEVEN  SEAS.  6znd  Thousand.  Tenth 
Edition.     Cr.  Svo.    6s. 
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THE  FIVE  NATIONS,  ^st  Thousand. 
Second  Edition.  Cr.  Svo.  6s. 

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DEPARTMENTAL  DITTIES.    Sixteenth 
Edition.     Cr.  Svo.     6s. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

*  Knight  (Albert  E.).    THE  COMPLETE 
CRICKETER.      Illustrated.      Demy  Svo. 
•jt.  6d.  net. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 


GENERAL  LITERATURE 


ii 


Knowllng  (R.  J.),  M.A.,  Professor  of  New 
Testament  Exegesis  at  King's  College, 
London.  See  Westminster  Commentaries. 

Lamb  (Charles  and  Mary),  THE  WORKS 
OF.  Edited  by  E.  V.  LUCAS.  Illustrated. 
In  Seven  Volumes.  DemyZvo.  js.6d.cach. 

THE  LIFE  OF.     See  E.  V.  Lucas. 
See  also  Little  Library. 

Lambert  (F.  A.  H.)-     See  Little  Guides. 

Lambros  ''Professor).    See  Byzantine  Texts. 

Lane- Poole  (Stanley).  A  HISTORY  OF 
EGYPT  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.  Fully 
Illustrated.  Cr.  8v0.  6s. 

Langbridge(F.),M.A.  BALLADSOFTHE 
BRAVE :  Poems  of  Chivalry,  Enterprise, 
Courage,  and  Constancy.  Second  Edition. 
Cr.  8v0.  -2S.  6d. 

Law  (William).  See  Library  of  Devotion 
and  Standard  Library. 

Leach  (Henry).  THE  DUKE  OF  DEVON 
SHIRE.     A  Biography.     With  12  Illustra 
tions.     Denty  8v0.     1 2S.  6d.  net. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

*Le  Braz  (Anatole).  THE  LAND  OF 
PARDONS.  Translated  by  FRANCES  M. 
GOSTLING.  Illustrated  in  colour.  Crown 

Lee  (Captain  L.  Melville).  A  HISTORY 
OF  POLICE  IN  ENGLAND.  Cr.  8v0. 
35.  6d.  net. 

Leigh (Percival).  THE  COMIC  ENGLISH 
GRAMMAR.  Embellished  with  upwards 
of  50  characteristic  Illustrations  by  JOHN 
LEECH.  Post  \6rno.  zs.  6d.  net. 

Lewes  (V.  B.),  M. A.  AIR  AND  WATER. 
Illustrated.  Cr.  %vo.  vs.  6d. 

•Lewis  (Mrs.  Qwynn).  A  CONCISE 
HANDBOOK  OF  GARDEN  SHRUBS. 
Illustrated.  Fcap.  8r>o.  35.  6d.  net. 

Lisle  (Fortune"ede).  See  Little  Bookson  Art. 

Littlehales(H.).     See  Antiquary's  Books. 

Lock  (Walter),  D.D.,  Warden  of  Keble 
College.  ST.  PAUL,  THE  MASTER- 
BUILDER.  Second  Edition.  Cr.  8v0. 
35.  6d. 

THE  BIBLE  AND  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 
Cr.  8v0,  6s. 

See  also  Leaders  of  Religion  and  Library 
of  Devotion. 

Locker  (F.).     See  Little  Library. 

Longfellow  (H.  W.).     See  Little  Library. 

Lorimer  (George    Horace).      LETTERS 
FROM   A   SELF-MADE  MERCHANT 
TO  HIS  SON.    Fourteenth  Edition.     C*. 
8v0.     6s. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

OLD  GORGON  GRAHAM.  Second  Edition. 
Cr.  8vo.    6s. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

Lover  (Samuel).    See  I.  P.  L. 

E.  V.  L.  and  C.  L.IO.  ENGLAND  DAY  BY 
DAY  :  Or,  The  Englishman's  Handbook  to 
Efficiency.  Illustrated  by  GBORGU  MORROW. 
fourth  Edition.  Fcap.  4/0.  is.  net. 


Lucas  (E.V.).  THE  LIFE  OF  CHARLES 
LAMB.  With  numerous  Portraits  and 
Illustrations.  Third  Edition.  Two  Vols. 
Denty  8vo.  sis.  net. 

A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

A   WANDERER   IN   HOLLAND.       With 
many  Illustrations,  of  which  20  are  in  Colour 
by  HERBERT  MARSHALL.     Fifth  Edition. 
Cr.  8v0.    6s. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

THE  OPEN  ROAD  :  a  Little  Book  for  Way 
farers.  Ninth  Edition.  Fcap.  8v0.  55.  ; 
India  Paper,  js.  6d. 

THE  FRIENDLY  TOWN  :  a  Little  Book 
for  the  Urbane.  Second  Edition.  Fcap. 
8v0.  55. ',  India  Paper  ^  js.  6d. 

Lucian.     See  Classical  Translations. 

Lyde  (L.  W.),  M.  A.     See  Commercial  Series. 

Lydon  (Noel  S.).     See  Junior  School  Books. 

Lyttelton(Hon.  Mrs.  A.).  WOMEN  AND 
THEIR  WORK.  Cr.  8vo.  is.  (>d. 

M.  M.  HOW  TO  DRESS  AND  WHAT  TO 
WEAR.  Cr.  8v0.  is.  net. 

Macaulay  (Lord).    CRITICAL  AND  HIS- 
TORICAL  ESSAYS.  Edited  by  F.  C.  MON 
TAGUE,  M.A.  Three  Volumes.   Cr.  8v0.  i8s. 
The  only  edition  of  this  book  completely 
annotated. 

M 'Allen  (J.  E.  B.;,  M.A.  See  Commercial 
Series. 

MacCulloch  (J.  A.).  See  Churchman's 
Library. 

MacCunn  (Florence  A.).  MARY  STUART. 
With  over  60  Illustrations,  including  a 
Frontispiece  in  Photogravure.  Demy  800. 
los.  6d.  net. 

A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published.    See 
also  Leaders  of  Religion. 

McDermott(E.  R.).    See,  Books  on  Business. 

M'Dowall(A.  S.).    See  Oxford  Biographies. 

Mackay(A.  M.).    See  Churchman's  Library. 

Magnus  (Laurie),  M.A.  A  PRIMER  OF 
WORDSWORTH.  Cr.  8vo.  is.  6d. 

Mahaffy(J.  P.),  Lift.D.  A  HISTORY  OF 
THE  EGYPT  OF  THE  PTOLEMIES. 
Fully  Illustrated.  Cr.  8v0.  6s. 

Maitland(F.W.),  LL.D.,  Downing  Professor 
of  the  Laws  of  England  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge.  CANON  LAW  IN  ENG 
LAND.  RoyalSvo.  75.  6d. 

Maiden  (H.  E.),  M.A.  ENGLISH  RE 
CORDS.  A  Companion  to  the  History  of 
England.  Cr.  8vo.  3$.  6d. 

THE  ENGLISH  CITIZEN  :  HIS  RIGHTS 
AND  DUTIES.  Third  Edition.  Cr.Zvo. 
is.  6d. 

A  SCHOOL  HISTORY  OF  SURREY. 
Illustrated.  Cr.  8v0.  is.  6d. 

Marchant  (E.  C.),  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Peter- 
house,  Cambridge.  A  GREEK  ANTHO 
LOGY  Second  Edition.  Cr.  Zvo.  3$.  6d. 

Merchant  (C.  E.)),  M.A.,  and  Cook  (A.  M.), 
M.A.  PASSAGES  FOR  UNSEEN 
TRANSLATION.  Third  Edition.  Cr. 
8v0.  3-r.  6d. 


12 


MESSRS.  METHUEN'S  CATALOGUE 


Marlowe  (Christopher).  Sec  Standard 
Library. 

Marr  (J.  E.),  F.R.S..  Fellow  of St  John's  Col 
lege,  Cambridge.  THE  SCIENTIFIC 
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Illustrated.  Cr.  8vo.  6s. 

AGRICULTURAL  GEOLOGY.  Illustrated. 
Cr.  8vo.  6s. 

Marvell  (Andrew).     See  Little  Library. 

MasefieId,(John).  SEA  LIFE  IN  NEL 
SON'S  TIME.  Illustrated.  Cr.  8vo. 
y.  6d.  net. 

*ON   THE  SPANISH   MAIN.     With   Por 
traits  and  Illustrations.    Demy  8vo.    IQS.  6d. 
net. 
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Maskeil  (A.).     See  Connoisseur's  Library. 

Mason  (A.  J.),  D.D.  See  Leaders  of  Religion. 

Massee (George).  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 
PLANT  LIFE :  Lower  Forms.  Illustrated. 
Cr.  8vo.  2S.  6d. 

Massinger  (P.).     See  Standard  Library. 

Masterman  (C.  F.  G.),  M.A.  TENNYSON 
AS  A  RELIGIOUS  TEACHER.  Cr. 
8vo.  6s. 

*Matheson(Hon.  E.  F.).  COUNSELS  OF 
LIFE.  Feap.  8vo.  35.  6d.  net. 

May  (Phil).  THE  PHILiMAY  ALBUM. 
Second  Edition,  +to.  \s.  net. 

Mellows  (Emma  S.).  A  SHORT  STORY 
OF  ENGLISH  LITERATURE.  Cr. 
%vo.  y.  6d. 

Methuen  (A.  M.  S.).     THE   TRAGEDY 
OF  SOUTH  AFRICA.     Cr.  8vo.    2s.  net. 
Also  Cr.  8vo.     yt.  net. 
A  revised   and   enlarged    edition   of    the 
author's     '  Peace    or    War    in     South 
Africa. ' 

ENGLAND'S  RUIN:  DISCUSSED  IN  Six- 
TEEM  LETTERS  TO  THE  RIGHT  HON. 
JOSEPH  CHAMBERLAIN,  M.P.  Seventh  Edi 
tion.  Cr.  Bvo.  -$d.  net. 

Micfcell  (E.  B.).  THE  ART  AND  PRAC 
TICE  OF  HAWKING.  With  3  Photo 
gravures  by  G.  E.  LODGK,  and  other  Illus 
trations.  Demy  Eva.  los.  6d. 

Millais  (J.  G.).  THE  LIFE  AND  LET 
TERS  OF  SIR  JOHN  EVERETT 
MILLAIS,  President  of  the  Royal  Academy. 
With  many  Illustrations,  of  which  2  are  in 
Photogravure.  New  Edition.  Demy  8ro. 
•js.  Gd.  net. 
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-MilIin(G.  P.).  PICTORIAL  GARDEN 
ING.  Illustrated.  Cr.  8z>o.  35.  6d.  net. 

Milli*  (C.  T.),  M.I.M.E.  See  Textbooks  of 
Technology. 

Milne  (J.  G.),  M.A.  A  HISTORY  OF 
ROMAN  EGYPT.  Fully  Illustrated. 
Cr.  &v*.  6s. 


Milton  (John),  THE  POEMS  OF,  BOTH 

ENGLISH  AND  LATIN,  Compos'd  at 

several  times.     Printed  by  his  true  Copies. 
The  Songs  were  set  in  Musick  by  M-. 

HENRY   LAWES,  Gentleman  of  the  Kin?  s 

Chappel,  and  one  of  His  Majesties  Private 

Musick. 

Printed  and  publish'd  according  to  Order. 
Printed  by  RUTH   RAWORTH  for  HUM 
PHREY  MOSELEY,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  th^ 

signeof  the  Princes  Armesin  Pauls  Church 
yard,  1645, 

See  also  Little  Library  Standard  Library, 

and  R.  F.  Towndrow. 
Minchin  (H.  C.),M.A.    See  R.  Peel. 
Mitchell  (P.  Chalmers),  M.A.  OUTLINES 

OF  BIOLOGY.     Illustrated.     Second  Edi 

tion.     Cr.  8v0.    6s. 
Mitton  (G.  E.).    JANE   AUSTEN   ANE 

HER  TIMES.     With  many  Portraits  anc 

Illustrations.     Second  Edition.     Demy  Bvo. 

ior.  6d.  net. 

A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 
4  Moil  (A.).'     See  Books  on  Business. 
Moir  (D.  M.X     See  Little  Library. 
Money  (L.  G.  Chiozza).    RICHES  AND 

POVERTY     Second  Edition    Demy  Svo. 

$s.  net. 

Montaigne.     See  C.  F.  Pond. 
Moore  (H.  E.).     See  S.  Q.  S. 
Moran  (Clarence  G.).  See  Books  on  Business. 
More  (Sir  Thomas).    See  Standard  Library. 
Morfill  (W.  R.),  Oriel  College,  Oxford.     A 

HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA  FROM  PETER 

THE   GREAT    TO    ALEXANDER  II. 

With  Maps  and  Plans.     Cr.  8vo.     3*.  6d. 
Morich  (R.  J.),  late  of  Clifton  College.    See 

School  Examination  Series. 
*Morris  (J.).    THE  MAKERS  OF  JAPAN. 

With    many    portraits    and     Illustrations. 

Demy  8vo.     izs.  6d.  net. 

A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 
Morris  (J.  E.).     See  Little  Guides. 
Morton  (Miss  Anderson).    See  Miss  Brod- 

rick. 
THE    MOTOR    YEAR-BOOK   FOR  1906. 

With   many    Illustrations    and    Diagrams. 

Demy  8vo.    js-  ^d.  net. 
Moule(H.  C.  G.),  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Dur. 

ham.     See  Leaders  of  Religion. 
Muir   (M.    M.    Pattison),     M.A.       THE 

CHEMISTRY    OF    FIRE.       Illustrated. 

Cr.  8vo.     25.  6d. 

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Munro(R.),  LL.D.     See  Antiquary's  Books. 
Naval  Officer  (A).     See  I.  P.  L. 
Neal  (W.  G. ).    See  R.  N.  Hall. 
Newman  (J.  H.)  and  others.     See  Library 

of  Devotion. 

Nichols  (J.  B.  B.).     See  Little  Library. 
Nicklin     (T.),     M.A.        EXAMINATION 

PAPERS  IN  TKUCYDIDES.  Cr.  8vo.  zs. 
Nimrod.    See  I.  P.  L. 
•Norgatc  (G.    L«   G.).     SIR   WALTER 

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net. 

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Pradeau  (G.).  A  KEY  TO  THE  TIME 
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Roberts  (M.  E.).     See  C.  C.  Channer. 

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Robinson  (F.  S.).  See  Connoisseur's  Library. 

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Rodwell  (G.),  B.A.  NEW  TESTAMENT 
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Ruble  (A.  E.),    D.D.      See   Junior    School 

ooks. 
Russell    (W.    Clark).      THE   LIFE    OF 

ADMIRAL    LORD    COLLINGWOOD. 

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St.  Cyres  (Viscount).       See    Oxford    Bio 
graphies. 
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Salmon  (A.  L.).     A  POPULAR   GUIDE 

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also  Little  Guides. 
Sargeant     (J.),      M.A.       ANNALS     OF 

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Sathas  (C.).     See  Byzantine  Texts. 
Schmitt  (John).     See  Byzantine  Texts. 
Scott  (A.   M.).      WINSTON  SPENCER 

CHURCHILL.     With  Portraits  and  lllus- 

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net. 
Sells  (V.  P.),   M.A.    THE  MECHANICS 

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Selous  (Edmund).      TOMMY    SMITH'S 

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Settle     (J.     H.).        ANECDOTES      OF 

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Shakespeare  (William). 
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JULIUS  CAESAR.  Edited  by  M.  MAC- 
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LUCE. 

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TITUS  ANDRONICUS.     Edited  by  H.  B. 

BAILDON. 

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DHIGHTON. 
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Sime  (J.).     See  Little  Books  on  Art. 


16 


MESSRS.  METHUEN'S  CATALOGUE 


Slmonson    (O.     A.).       FRANCESCO 

GUARD  I.      With  41  Plates.      Imperial 

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Sketchley  (R.  E.  D.).     See  Little  Books  on 

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Art. 
Sladen  (Douglas).      SICILY:    The   New 

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Small  (Evan),  M.A.    THE  EARTH.    An 

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Smallwood  (M.  O.).     See  Little  Books  on 

Art. 

Smedley(F.  E.).     Seel.P.L. 
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Smith  (Nowell  C.).     See  W.  Wordsworth. 
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WILFRED    WHITTEN.     Illustrated.     Demy 

Bvo.   i2j.  6d.  net. 
Snell  (F.  J.).     A  BOOK   OF   EXMOOR. 

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Snowden(C.  E.).  A  HANDY  DIGEST  OF 

BRITISH  HISTORY.  Demy  Bvo.  4s.  6d. 
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Sornet  (L.  A.).     See  Junior  School  Books. 
South  (Wilton  E.),  M.A.     See  Junior  School 

Books. 
Southey    (R.).       ENGLISH     SEAMEN. 

Edited  by  DAVID  HANNAY. 
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Stedman  (A.  M.  M.),  M.A. 

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EASY  LATIN  PASSAGES  FOR  UNSEEN 
TRANSLATION.  Tenth  Edition  Fcap. 
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Steel  (R.    Elliott),    M.A..,    F.C.S.      THE 
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Stephenson  (J.),  M.A.  THE  CHIEF 
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Sterne  (Laurence).     See  Little  Library. 

Sterry  (W.).  M.A.  ANNALS  OF  ETON 
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Steuart  (Katherine).  BY  ALLAN 
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Stevenson  (R.  L.)  THE  LETTERS  OF 
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THE  LIFE  OF  R.  L.  STEVENSON.  See 
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*Storr  (Vernon  F.),  M.A.,  Lecturer  in 
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A 


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Streane  (A.  W.)»  D.D.  See  Churchman's 
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Stroud  (H.),  D.Sc.,  M.A.  See  Textbooks  of 
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Strutt  (Joseph).  THE  SPORTS  AND 
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Suddards  (F.).     See  C.  Stephenson. 

Surtees  (R.  S.).     See  I.P.L. 

Swift  (Jonathan).  THE  JOURNAL  TO 
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Symes  (J.  E.),  M.A.  THE  FRENCH 
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net. 

Tauler  (J.).     See  Library  of  Devotion. 

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Theobald  (F.  V.),  M.A.    INSECT    LIFE. 

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Thompson  (A.  H.).     See  Little  Guides. 
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MILTON.    Edited  by.    Fcaj>.  &vo.    y.6d. 

net. 
Townley  (Lady  Susan).     MY  CHINESE 

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Other  Poems.     Cr.  &-'&.     5*. 
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Tyrell-Qill  (Frances).    See  Little  Books  on 

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Vaughan  (Henry).     See  Little  Library. 

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Wade  (G.  W.),  D.  D.  OLD  TESTAMENT 
HISTORY.  With  Maps.  Third  Edition. 
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Wagner  (Richard).     See  A.  L.  Cieather. 

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Walton  (Izaac)  and  Cotton  (Charles). 
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Webber  (F.  C.).  See  Textbooks  of  Techno 
logy. 

Wells  (Sidney  H.).  See  Textbooks  of 
Science. 

Welis(J.),  M.A. ,  Fellowand  Tutor  ofWadhai a 
College.  OXFORD  AND  OXFORJ) 
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A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ROME.    Sixth 
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'Westminster  Gazette'  Office  Boy 
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ARTHUR.  Cr.  t,to.  zs.  6d.  net. 

Wetmore  (Helen  C.).     THE  LAST  OF 
THE  GREAT  SCOUTS  ('Buffalo  Bill') 
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Whibley  (C).     See  Half-crown  Library. 

Whibley  (L.),  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Pembrok, 
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CHIES  :  THEIR  ORGANISATIONS 
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Whitaker(G.  H.),  M.A.  See  Churchman '; 
Bible. 

White  (Gilbert).  THE  NATURAL 
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FOWLER,  M.A.  Cr.  8vo.  6s.  See  also 
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Whitfield  (E.  E.).     See  Commercial  Series. 

Whitehead  (A.  W.).  GASPARDDE 
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Whftetoy  (R.  Lloyd),  F.I.C.,  Principal  of 
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Whitley  (Miss).   See  S.Q.S. 

Whitten  (W.).     See  John  Thomas  Smith. 

Whyte(A.  G.),  B.Sc.  See  Books  on  Business, 

Wilberforce  (Wilfrid).  See  Little  Books 
on  Art. 

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Wilkinson  (J.  Frome).  See  S.Q.S. 
*WilIiams  (A.).  PETROL  PETER:  or 

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Williamson  (M.  G.).     See  Ancient  Cities. 
Williamson  (W.).       THE    BRITISH 

GARDENER.       Illustrated.       Demy  8vo. 

ioj.  6dr. 
Williamson  (W.),    B.A.      See  Junior  Ex- 

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Beginner's  Books. 
Willson  (Beckles).    LORD  STRATH- 

CONA  :  the  Story  of  his  Life.     Illustrated. 

Demy  8vo.     js.  6d. 

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Wilmot-Buxton  (E.  M.).     MAKERS  OF 

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A.  Text-book   of   European   History  for 

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THE  ANCIENT  WORLD.    With  Maps  and 

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Wilson  (Bishop.).    See  Library  of  Devotion. 
Wilson  (A.  J.).     See  Books  on  Business. 
Wilson  (H.  A.).     See  Books  on  Business. 
Wilton  (Richard),  M.A.     LYRA    PAS- 

TORALIS  :  Songs  of  Nature,  Church,  and 

Home.     Pott  8vo.     zs.  6d. 
Winbolt  (S.  E.),  M.A.     EXERCISES  IN 

LATIN  ACCIDENCE.     Cr.  8™.     is.  6d. 
LATIN   HEXAMETER  VERSE:  An  Aid 

to  Composition.     Cr.  Zvo.     3$.  6d.     KEY, 

W5indTe(B.  C.  A.),  D.Sc.,  F.R.S.  See  Anti- 
quary's  Books,  Little  Guides  and  Ancient 
Cities. 

Winterbotham  (Canon),  M.A.,  B.Sc., 
LL.  B.  See  Churchman's  Library. 

Wood  (J.  A.  E.).  See  Textbooks  of 
Technology. 

Wood  (J.  Hickory).     DAN  LENO.     Illus- 

trated.      Third  Edition.     Cr.  &vo.     6s. 

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Wood  (W.  Birkbeck),  M.A.,late  Scholar  of 
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HISTORY  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR  IN 
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With  24  Maps  and  Plans.  Demy  8vo. 
tzs.  6d.  net. 


Wordsworth    (Christopher).       See  Anti 
quary's  Books. 
*  Wordsworth  (W.).     THE  POEMS  OF. 

With  Introduction  and  Notes  by  NOWELL 
C.  SMITH,  Fellow  of  New  College,  Oxford. 
In  Four  Volumes.  Demy  8vo.  $s.  net 
each.  See  also  Little  Library. 

Wordsworth  (W.)  and  Coleridge  (S.  T.). 
See  Little  Library. 

Wright  (Arthur),  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Queen's 
College,  Cambridge.  See  Churchman's 
Library. 

Wright  (C.  Gordon).     See  Dante. 

Wright  (J.  C.).  TO-DAY.  Fcap.  i6mo. 
is.  net. 

Wright  (Sophie).  GERMAN  VOCABU 
LARIES  FOR  REPETITION.  Fcap.  8w. 
is.  6d. 

Wrong  (George  M.),  Professor  of  History 
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EARL  OF  ELGIN.  Illustrated.  Demy 
Zvo.  js.  6d.  net. 

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Wyatt(Kate)  and  Gloag  (M.).  A  BOOK 
OF  ENGLISH  GARDENS.  With  24 
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Wylde(A.   B.).     MODERN  ABYSSINIA. 
With  a  Map  and  a  Portrait.      Demy  8v0. 
i5J.  net. 
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Wyndham  (George).  THE  POEMS  OF 
WILLIAM  SHAKESPEARE.  With  an 
Introduction  and  Notes.  Demy  8v0.  Buck 
ram,  gilt  top.  ioj.  6d. 

Wyon  (R.).     See  Half-crown  Library. 

Yeats  (W.  B.).  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF 
IRISH  VERSE.  Revised  and  Enlarged 
Edition.  Cr.  8vo.  -^s.  6d. 

Young  ( Filson).    THE   COMPLETE 
MO  T  O  R  I  S  T.       With  138  Illustrations. 
Fifth  Edition.     Dsrtty  8v0.     125.  6d.  net. 
A  Colonial  Edition  is  also  published. 

Young  (T.  M.).  THE  AMERICAN 
COTTON  INDUSTRY:  A  Study  of 
Work  and  Workers.  Cr.Svo.  Cloth,  zs.6d.  ; 
paper  boards,  is.  6d>. 

Zimmern  (Antonia).  WHAT  DO  WE 
KNOW  CONCERNING  ELECTRI 
CITY?  Fcap.Zvo.  is.6d.net. 


Ancient  Cities 

General  Editor,  B.  C.  A.  WINDLE,  D.Sc.,  F.R.S. 

Cr.  8vo.     45.  6d.  net. 


CHESTER.    By  B.  C.  A.  Windle,  D.Sc.  F.R.S. 

Illustrated  by  E.  H.  New. 
SHREWSBURY.      By  T.  Auden,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 

Illustrated. 
CANTERBURY.     By  J.  C.  Cox,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

Illustrated. 


Illus- 


^EDINBURGH.    By  M.  G.  Williamson. 

trated  by  Herbert  Railton. 
'LINCOLN.      By  E.  Mansel  Sympson,  M.A.. 

M.D.     Illustrated  by  E.  H.  New. 


20 


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Antiquary's  Books,  The 

General  Editor,  J.  CHARLES  COX,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

A  series  of  volumes  dealing  with  various  branches  of  English  Antiquities ; 

comprehensive  and  popular,  as  well  as  accurate  and  scholarly. 

Demy  $>vo.     7s.  6d.  net. 


ARCHEOLOGY     AND     FALSE     ANTIQUITIES. 
By  R.  Munro,  LL.D.     Illustrated. 


ENGLISH    MONASTIC    LIFE.      By  the   Right 

Rev.   Abbot  Gasquet,   O.S  B.     Illustrated. 

Third  Edition. 
REMAINS    OK     THB     PREHISTORIC    AGE    IN     SHRINES  OF  BRITISH  SAINTS.    ByJ.  C.  Wai. 

ENGLAND.       By  B.  C.  A.  Windle,  D.Sc.,  !       With  numerous  Illustrations  and  Plans. 

F.R.  S.     With   numerous  Illustrations  and 


Plans. 

OLD  SERVICE  BOOKS  OF  THE  ENGLISH 
CHURCH.  By  Christopher  Wordsworth, 
M.A.,  and  Henry  Littlehales.  With 
Coloured  and  other  Illustrations. 

CELTIC  ART.  By  ].  Romilly  Allen,  F.S.A. 
With  numerous  Illustrations  and  Plans. 


THE  ROYAL   FORESTS  OF  ENGLAND.    By    F. 
C.  Cox,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.     Illustrated. 

*THE    MANOR    AND    MANORIAL   RECORDS 
By  Nathaniel  J.   Hone.     Illustrated. 

*SEALS.    ByJ.  Harvey  Bloom.    Illustrated. 


Beginner's  Books,  The 

Edited  by  W.  WILLIAMSON,  B.A. 


EASY  FRENCH  RHYMES.  By  Henri  Blouet. 
Illustrated.  Fcap.  Bv0.  is. 

EASY  STORIES  FROM  ENGLISH  HISTORY.  By 
E.  M.  Wilmot-Buxton,  Author  of '  Makers 
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22 


MESSRS.  METHUEN'S  CATALOGUE 


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MESSRS.  METHUEN'S  CATALOGUE 


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With  16  Coloured  Plates.  Fcap.  Svo.  2*.  net. 

THE  LIFE  AND  DEATH  OF  JOHN  MYTTON,  ESQ. 


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Edition. 

[Continued. 


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ILLUSTRATED  POCKET  LIBRARY  OF  PLAIN  AND 

THE  LIFE  OP  A  SPORTSMAN.     By  Nimrod. 

With  35  Coloured  Plates  by  Henry  Alken. 
HANDLE  Y  Cuoss.     By  R.  S.  Surtees.     With 

H  Coloured  Plates  and  zoo  Woodcuts  in  the 

Text  by  John  Leech. 
MR.  SPONGE'S  SPORTING  Tou*.     By  R.  S. 

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Woodcuts  in  the  Text  by  John  Leech. 
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This   volume 


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tremely  rare  and  costly  edition  of  1843,  which 
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THE  TOUR  OF  DR.  SYNTAX  IN  SEARCH  OF 
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THE  HISTORY  OF  JOHNNY  QUAE  GENUS  :  the 
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THE  ENGLISH  DANCE  OF  DEATH,  from  the 
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Syntax.'    Two  Volumes. 
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LIFE  IN  LONDON:  or,  the  Day  and  Night 
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Elegant  Friend,  Corinthian  Tom.  By 
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REAL  LIFE  IN  LONDON  :  or.  the  Rambles 
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his  Cousin,  The  Hon.  Tom  Dashall.  By  an 


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smith.  With  24  Coloured  Plates  by  T.  Row- 
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NEWCOME.  By  an  Officer.  With  15  Coloured 
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GAMONIA  :  or,  the  Art  of  Preserving  Game  ; 
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Elegant  Friend,  Sir  Shawn  O'Dogherty. 
By  a  Real  Paddy.  With  19  Coloured  Plates 
by  Heath,  Marks,  etc. 

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PERUGINI. 
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ABRAHAM  COWLEY.    Edited  by  H.  C 

MlNCHlN. 

Crabbe  (George).    SELECTIONS  FROM 

GEORGE    CRABBE.      Edited  by  A.  C 

DEANE. 
Cralk  (Mrs.).     JOHN    HALIFAX, 

G  E  N  T  L  E  M  A  N.      Edited  by  ANNE 

MATHESON.     Two  Volumes. 
Crashaw    (Richard).       THp;    ENGLISH 

POEMS    OF    RICHARD    CRASHAW. 

Edited  by  EDWARD  HUTTON. 
Dante  (AHghieri).     THE  INFERNO  OF 

DANTE.       Translated  by  H.    F.   GARY. 

Edited  by  PAGET  TOYNBEE,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 
THE  PURGATORIO  OF  DANTE.    Trans 
lated  by  H.  F.  GARY.     Edited  by  PAGET 

TOYNBEE,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 
THE    PARADISO    OF    DANTE.      Trans- 

lated  by  H.  F.  GARY.     Edited  by  PAGET 

TOYNBEE,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 
Darley  (George).    SELECTIONS  FROM 

THE  POEMS  OF  GEORGE  DARLEY. 

Edited  by  R.  A.  STREATFEILD. 
Deane  (A.  C.).      A   LITTLE   BOOK   OF 

LIGHT  VERSE. 
Dickens  (Charles).  CHRISTMAS  BOOKS. 

Two  Volumes. 
Ferrler  (Susan).      MARRIAGE.     Edited 

by     A.     GOODRICH  -  FREER     and     LORD 

IDDESLEIGH.     Two  Volumes. 
THE  INHERITANCE.     Two  Volumes. 
Gaskell(Mrs.).    CRANFORD.    Edited  by 

E.  V.  LUCAS.    Second  Edition. 
Hawthorne  (Nathaniel).  THE  SCARLET 

LETTER.     Edited  by  PERCY  DEARMEK. 
Henderson  (T.  F.).     A  LITTLE  BOOK  i 

OF  SCOTTISH  VERSE. 


Keats  (John).      POEMS.    With  an  Intro 
duction  by  L.    BINYON,  and  Notes  by  J. 

MASEFIELD. 
Kinglake  (A.  W.).     EOTHEN.    With  an 

Introduction  and  Notes.     Second  Edition. 
Lamb    (Charles).      ELIA,     AND     THE 

LAST   ESSAYS   OF   ELIA.     Edited   by 

E.  V.  LUCAS. 
Locker  (F.).    LONDON  LYRICS.    Edited 

by  A.  D.  GODLEY,  M.A.     A  reprint  of  the 

First  Edition. 
Longfellow  (H.  W.).     SELECTIONS 

FROM     LONGFELLOW.        Edited    by 

L.  M.  FAITH  FULL. 
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WRIGHT. 
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BEBCHING,  M.A.,  Canon  of  Westminster. 
Molr(D.  M.).   MANSIEWAUCH.    Edited 

by  T.  F.  HENDERSON. 
Nichols  (J.  B.  B.).    A  LITTLE  BOOK  OF 

ENGLISH  SONNETS. 
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POWELL. 
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POEMS  OF  ALFRED,  LORD  TENNY 
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M.A. 
IN    ME  MORI  AM.       Edited  by  H.   C. 

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Waterhouse  (Mrs.  Alfred).     A  LITTLE 

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C.  SMITH. 
Words  worth  (W.)  and  Coleridge  (S.  T.). 

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Balfour    (Andrew).      VENGEANCE    IS 
MINE. 

Baring- Gould (S.).    MRS.  CURGENVEN 

OF  CURGENVEN. 
•DOMITIA. 

*THE  FROBISHERS. 

Barlow    (Jane),     Author  of  'Irish   Idylls. 

FROM     THE     EAST     UNTO     THE 

WEST 

A  CREEL  OF  IRISH  STORIES. 
*THE  FOUNDING  OF  FORTUNES. 
Barr  (Robert).    THE  VICTORS. 
Bartram  (George).    THIRTEEN  EVEN- 

INGS. 
Benson  (E.  F.),  Author  of  'Dodo.'    THE 

CAPSINA. 
Bowles  (G.  Stewart).    A  STRETCH  OFF 

THE  LAND. 

Brooke  (Emma).    THE  POET'S  CHILD. 
Bullock  (Shan  F.).     THE  BARRYS. 
THE  CHARMER. 
THE  SQUIREEN. 
THE  RED  LEAGUERS. 
Burton  (J.  Bloundelle).      ACROSS  THE 

SALT  SEAS. 
THE  CLASH  OF  ARMS. 
DENOUNCED. 
*FORTUNE'S  MY  FOE. 
Capes  (Bernard).  AT  A  WINTER'S  FIRE. 
Chesney  (Weatherby).     THE  BAPTIST 

RING. 

THE  BRANDED  PRINCE. 
THE  FOUNDERED  GALLEON. 
JOHN  TOPP. 
Clifford  (Mrs.    W.    K.).      A    FLASH    OF 

SUMMER. 
Collingwood   (Harry).      THE    DOCTOR 

OF  THE  'JULIET.' 

Cornford  (L.  Cope).     SONS  OF  ADVER 
SITY. 
Crane   (Stephen).     WOUNDS  IN  THE 

RAIN. 
Denny  (C.    E.).      THE    ROMANCE   OF 

UPFOLD  MANOR. 
Uickgon  (Harris).    THE  BLACK  WOLF'S 

BREED. 
Dickinson     (Evelyn).       THE    SIN    OF 

ANGELS. 


*Duncan  (Sara  J.).    THE  POOL  IN  THE 

DESERT. 

*A  VOYAGE  OF  CONSOLATION. 
Bmbree  (C.  F.).    A  HEART  OF  FLAME. 
Fenn   (G.    Manville).     AN    ELECTRIC- 
SPARK. 
Findlater  (Jane  H.).     THE  DAUGHTER 

OF  STRIFE. 

*Findlater(Mary).     OVER  THE  HILLS. 
Forrest    (R.     E.).      THE    SWORD    OF 

AZRAEL. 

Francis  (M.  E.).     MISS  ERIN. 
Gallon  (Tom).    RICKERBY'S  FOLLY. 
Gerard     (Dorothea).       THINGS    THAT 

HAVE  HAPPENED. 
Glanville   (Ernest).      THE  DESPATCH 

RIDER. 

THE  LOST  REGIMENT. 
THE  KLOOF  BRIDE. 
THE  INCA'S  TREASURE. 
Gordon  (Julien).    MRS.  CLYDE. 
WORLD'S  PEOPLE. 
Goss  (C.  F.).     THE  REDEMPTION  OF 

DAVID  CORSON. 
*Gray  (E.  M 'Queen).       MY  STEWARD- 

SHIP. 

Hales  (A.  G.).     JAIR  THE  APOSTATE. 
Hamilton  (Lord  Ernest).  MARYHAMIL- 

TON. 
Harrison  (Mrs.  Burton).     A  PRINCESS 

OF  THE  HILLS.     Illustrated. 
Hooper  (I.).    THE  SINGER  OF  MARLY. 
Hough  (Emerson).     THE  MISSISSIPPI 

BUBBLE. 
•Iota1  (Mrs.  Caffyn).      ANNE  MAULE- 

VERER. 
Mepson  (Edgar).     KEEPERS  OF   THE 

Kelly  (Florence  Finch).    WITH  HOOPS 

OF  STEEL. 

Lawless  (Hon.  Emily).     MAELCHO. 
Linden  (Annie).   A  WOMAN  OF  SENTI- 

MENT. 

*Lorimer  (Norma).    JOSIAH'S  WIFE. 
Lush  (Charles  K.).     THE  AUTOCRATS. 
Macdonnell    (A.).        THE    STORY    OF 

TERESA. 
Macgrath     (Harold).       THE     PUPPET 

CROWN. 


MESSRS.  METHUEN'S  CATALOGUE 


Mackle  (Pauline  Bradford).  THE  VOICE 
IN  THE  DESERT. 

Marsh  (Richard).  THE  SEEN  AND 
THE  UNSEEN. 

•GARNERED. 

•A  METAMORPHOSIS. 

MARVELS  AND  MYSTERIES. 

BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  VEIL. 

Mayall  (J.  W.).  THE  CYNIC  AND  THE 
SYREN. 

Monkhouse  (Allan).    LOVE  IN  A  LIFE. 

Moore  (Arthur).  THE  KNIGHT  PUNC- 
TILIOUS. 

Nesblt  (Mrs.  Bland).  THE  LITERARY- 
SENSE. 

Norris(W.  E.).    AN  OCTAVE. 

01!phant(Mrs.).     THE  LADY'S  WALK. 

SIR  ROBERT'S  FORTUNE. 

THE  TWO  MARY'S. 

Penny  (Mrs.  F.  A.).  A  MIXED  MAR 
AGE. 

Phillpotts  (Eden).  THE  STRIKING 
HOURS. 

FANCY  FREE. 

Randall  (J.).  AUNT  BETHIA'S  BUTTON. 

'Raymond  (Walter).  FORTUNE'S  DAR- 
LING. 

*Rayner  (Olive  Pratt).     ROSALBA. 

Rhys  (Grace).  THE  DIVERTED  VILL 
AGE. 


Rickert  (Edith).  OUT  OF  THE  CYPRESS 

SWAMP. 

Roberton(M.  H.).  A  GALLANT  QUAKER. 
Saunders  (Marshall).      ROSE  A  CHAR- 

LITTE. 
Sergeant   (Adeline).      ACCUSED    AND 

ACCUSER. 

BARBARA'S  MONEY. 
THE  ENTHUSIAST. 
A  GREAT  LADY. 
*THE  LOVE  THAT  OVERCAME. 
THE  MASTER  OF  BEECHWOOD. 
UNDER  SUSPICION. 
*THE  YELLOW  DIAMOND. 
Shannon  (W.  F.).    JIM  TWELVES. 
^Strain  (E.  H.).  ELMSLIE'S  DRAG  NET. 
Stringer  (Arthur).  THE  SILVER  POPP\. 
Stuart  (Esrae).     CHRISTALLA. 
Sutherland  (Duchess  of).     ONE  HOUR 

AND  THE  NEXT. 

Swan  (Annie).    LOVE  GROWN  COLD. 
i  Swift  (Benjamin).    SORDON. 
Tanqueray  (Mrs.  B.  M.).     THE  ROYAL 

QUAKER. 
I  Trafford-Taunton  (Mrs.E.W.).  SILENT 

DOMINION. 

'Upward (Allen).  ATHELSTANE  FORD 
Waineman  (Paul).    A  HEROINE  FROM 

FINLAND. 
Watson  (H.  B.  Marriott).    THE  SKIRTS 

OF  HAPPY  CHANCE. 


Books  for  Boys  and  Girls 

Illustrated.     Crown  8vo.       s.  6 


THE  GETTING  WELL  op  DOROTHY.     By  Mrs. 

W.  K.  Clifford.    Second  Edition. 
THE    ICELANDER'S    SWORD.      By  S.   Banner- 

Gould. 
ONLY   A   GUARD-ROOM   DOG.     By  Edith  F.. 

Cutheil. 
THE   DOCTOR  OF   THE   JULIET.      By  Harry 

Collingwood. 
LITTLE  PETER.      By  Lucas  Malet.      Second 

Edition. 
MASTER  ROCKAFELLAR'S  VOYAGE.      By  W. 

Clark  Russell. 


THE  SECRET  OF  MADAMK  DK  MONLUC.     By 

the  Author  of  "  Mdlle.  Mori." 
SYD  BELTON  :  Or,  the  Boy  who  would  not  go 

to  Sea.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 
THE  RED  GRANGE.     By  Mrs.  Molesworth. 
A  GIRL  OF  THE  PEOPLE.     By  L.  T.  Meade. 

Second  Edition. 

HEPSY  GIPSY.     By  L.  T.  Meade.     *s.  6d. 
THE  HONOURABLE  Miss.     By  L.  T.  Meade. 
THERE  WAS  ONCE  A  PRINCE.     By  Mrs.  M.  E. 

Mann. 
WHFN  ARNOLD  CO.VFS  HOME.    By  Mrs.  M.  E. 

Mann. 


The  Novels  of  Alexandre  Dumas 

Price  6d.     Double  Volumes^  is. 


THE  THREE  MUSKETEERS.  With  a  long 
Introduction  by  Andrew  Lang.  Double 
volume. 

THK  PRINCE  OF  THIEVES.     Second  Edition. 

ROBIN  HOOD.     A  Sequel  to  the  above. 

THE  CORSICA*  BROTHERS. 

GEORGES. 


CROP-EARED  JACQUOT;  JANE;  Etc. 

TWENTY  YEARS  AFTER.     Double  volume. 

AMAURY. 

THE  CASTLE  or  EPPSTEIN. 

THE  SNOWBALL,  and  SULTANETTA. 

CECILE  ;  OK,  THE  WEDDING  GOWN. 

ACT*. 


FICTION 


39 


Tim  BLACK  TULIP. 

THE  VICOMTE  DE  BRAGELONNE. 

Part  i.    Louise  de  la   Valliere.     Double 

Volume. 
Part  ii.    Th«   Man   in   the   Iron    Mask. 

Double  Volume. 
THE  CONVICT'S  SON. 
THE  WOLF-LEADER. 
NANON;  OR,  THE  WOMEN'    WAR.     Double 

volume. 

PAULINE;  MURAT;  AND  PASCAL  BRUNO. 
THE  ADVENTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  PAMPHILE. 
FERNANDE. 
GABRIEL  LAMBERT. 
CATHERINE  BLUM. 
THE   CHEVALIER   D'HARMENTAL.       Double 

volume. 
SYLVANDIRE. 
THE  FENCING  MASTER. 
THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  ANTONY. 
CONSCIENCE. 
PERE  LA  RUINF. 
*THR  GREAT  MASSACRE.     The  first  part  of 

Queen  Margot. 
*HENRI  OF  NAVARRE.      The  second  part  of 

Queen  Margot. 
*THE  WILD  DUCK  SHOOTER. 

Illustrated  Edition. 
Demy  8vo.     Cloth, 

THK    THREE    MUSKETEERS.      Illustrated    in 
Colour  by  Frank  Adams,    as.  6d, 


THE    PRINCE    OF    THIEVES.      Illustrated   hi 

Colour  by  Frank  Adams.     2S. 
ROBIN   HOOD  THE  OUTLAW.     Illustrated  in 

Colour  by  Frank  Adams.     2$. 
THE    CORSICAN   BROTHERS.      Illustrated   in 

Colour  by  A.  M.  M'Lellan.     is.  6d. 
THE  WOLF-LEADER.      Illustrated  in  Colour 

by  Frank  Adams,     if.  6d. 
GEORGES.  Illustrated  in  Colour  by  Munro  Orr. 

2$. 
TWENTY  YEARS  AFTER.   Illustrated  in  Colour 

by  Frank  Adams.     3*. 
AMAURY.      Illustrated  in  Colour  by  Gordon 

Browne.     2*. 

THE  SNOWBALL,  and  SULTANETTA.     Illus 
trated  in  Colour  by  Frank  Adams,     zs. 
THE  VICOMTE  DE  BRAGELONNE.  Illustrated  in 

Colour  by  Frank  Adams. 

Part  i.  Louise  de  la  Valliere.     3*. 
Part  ii.  The  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask.     3*. 
*CROP-EARED  JACQUOT  ;  JANE  ;  Etc.     Illus. 

trated  in  Colour  by  Gordon  Browne,    us. 
THE  CASTLE  OF    EPPSTEIN.     Illustrated  in 

Colour  by  Stewart  Orr.     is.  6J. 
ACTE.       Illustrated    in    Colour    by   Gordon 

Browne,     if.  6</. 

*CECILE  ;  OR,  THE  WEDDING  GOWN.      Illus 
trated    in    Colour    by   D.    Murray   Smith. 

is.  6</. 
*THE  ADVENTURES  OK  CAPTAIN  PAMPHILK. 

Illustrated    in    Colour  by   Frank    Adams. 

is.  6J. 


Methuen's  Sixpenny  Books 


Austen    (Jane).        PRIDE    AND    PRE 

JUDICE. 

Bagot  (Richard).   A  ROMAN  MYSTERY. 
Balfour    (Andrew).      BY    STROKE    OF 

SWORD. 

Baring-Gould  (S.).     FURZE  BLOOM. 
CHEAP  JACK  ZITA. 
KITTY  ALONE. 
URITH. 

THE  BROOM  SQUIRE. 
IN  THE  ROAR  OF  THE  SEA. 
NOEMI. 

A  BOOK  OF  FAIRY  TALES.    Illustrated. 
LITTLE  TU'PENNY. 
THE  FROBISHERS. 
Barr     (Robert).       JENNIE      BAXTER. 


JOURNALIST. 
IN 


THE  MIDST  OF  ALARMS. 
THE  COUNTESS  TEKLA. 
THE  MUTABLE  MANY. 
Benson  (E.  F.).     DODO. 
Bronte  (Charlotte).    SHIRLEY. 
Brownell    (C.     L.).     THE    HEART    OF 
JAPAN. 


Burton  (J.  Bloundelle).      ACROSS  THE 

SALT  SEAS. 
Caffyn"(Mrs).,('Iota').    ANNE   MAULE- 

VERER. 
'Capes  (Bernard).    THE    LAKE    OF 

WINE. 
Clifford  (Mrs.   W.    K.).    A    FLASH    OF 

SUMMER. 

MRS.  KEITH'S  CRIME. 
Connell  (F.   Norreys).     THE    NIGGER 

KNIGHTS. 

Corbett    (Julian).         A    BUSINESS    IN- 
GREAT  WATERS. 
Croker  (Mrs.  B.  M.).     PEGGY  OF  THE 

BARTONS. 
A  STATE  SECRET. 
ANGEL. 
JOHANNA. 
Dante  (Alighieri).       THE    VISION    OF 

DANTE  (CARY). 
Doyle  (A.  Conan).    ROUND  THE  RED 

LAMP. 
Duncan  (Sara  Jeannette).      A  VOYAGE 

OF  CONSOLATION 
THOSE  DELIGHTFUL  AMERICANS. 


MESSRS.  METHUEN'S  CATALOGUE 


Eliot  (George).      THE  MILL  ON  THE 

FLOSS. 
Findlater    (Jane    H.).       THE     GREEN 

GRAVES  OF  BALGOWRIE. 
Gallon  (Tom).    RICKERBY'S  FOLLY. 
GaskelKMrs.).    CRANFORD. 
MARY  BARTON. 
NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 
Gerard    (Dorothea).       HOLY     MATRL 

MONY. 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  LONDON. 
MADE  OF  MONEY. 
Qissing  (George).  THE  TOWN  TRAVEL- 

LER. 

THE  CROWN  OF  LIFE. 
Ulanville    (Ernest).       THE     INCA'S 

TREASURE. 
THE  KLOOF  BRIDE. 
Gleig  (Charles).     HUNTER'S  CRUISE. 
Urimm     (The     Brothers).        GRIMM'S 

FAIRY  TALES.     Illustrated. 
Hope  (Anthony).    A  MAN  OF  MARK. 
A  CHANGE  OF  AIR. 
THE  CHRONICLES   OF  COUNT 

ANTONIO. 
PHROSO. 

THE  DOLLY  DIALOGUES. 
Hornung  (E.  W.).      DEAD  MEN  TELL 

NO  TALES. 
Ingraham  (J.  H.).      THE  THRONE  OF 

DAVID. 
Le  Queux (W.).    THE  HUNCHBACK  OF 

WESTMINSTER. 
*Levett-Yeats(S.  K.).  THE  TRAITOR'S 

WAY. 

Llnton  (E.  Lynn).      THE   TRUE    HIS 
TORY  OF  JOSHUA  DAVIDSON. 
Lyall(Edna).    DERRICK  VAUGHAN. 
Malet(Lucas).     THE  CARISSIMA. 
A  COUNSEL  OF  PERFECTION. 
Mann   (Mrs.    M.    E.).       MRS.      PETER 

HOWARD. 
A  LOST  ESTATE. 
THE  CEDAR  STAR. 
Marchmont  (A     W.).      MISER     HOAD 

LEY'S  SECRET. 
A  MOMENT'S  ERROR. 
Marryat  (Captain).     PETER  SIMPLE. 
JACOB  FAITHFUL. 
Marsh  (Richard).    THE  TWICKENHAM 

PEERAGE. 
THE  GODDESS. 
THE  JOSS. 

Mason  (A.  E.  W.).    CLEMENTINA. 
Mathers  (Helen).    HONEY. 
GRIFF  OF  GRIFFITHSCOURT. 


SAM'S  SWEETHEART 

Meade  (Mrs.  L.  T.).    DRIFT. 

Mitford  (Bertram).    THE  SIGN  OF  THE 

SPIDER. 

Montresor  (F.  F.).    THE  ALIEN. 
Moore  (Arthur).  THE  GAY  DECEIVERS. 
Morrison    (Arthur).     THE    HOLE    IN 

THE  WALL. 

Nesblt(E.).     THE  RED  HOUSE. 
Morris  (W.  E.).     HIS  GRACE. 
GILES  INGILBY. 
THE  CREDIT  OF  THE  COUNTY. 
LORD  LEONARD. 
MATTHEW  AUSTIN. 
CLARISSA  FURIOSA. 
Oliphant  (Mrs.).    THE  LADY'S  WALK. 
SIR  ROBERT'S  FORTUNE. 
THE  PRODIGALS. 
Oppenheim  (E.  Phillips).     MASTER  O/ 

MEN. 
Parker  (Gilbert).    THE  POMP  OF  THi: 

LAVILETTES. 

WHEN  VALMONDCAMETO  PONTIAC. 
THE  TRAIL  OF  THE  SWORD. 
Pemberton  (Max).     THE    FOOTSTEPS 

OF  A  THRONE. 
I  CROWN  THEE  KING. 
Phillpotts  (Eden).    THE  HUMAN  BOY 
CHILDREN  OF  THE  MIST. 
Ridge  ( W.  Pett).  A  SON  OF  THE  STATE. 
LOST  PROPERTY. 
GEORGE  AND  THE  GENERAL. 
Russell  (W.  Clark).     A  MARRIAGE  AT 

SEA. 

ABANDONED. 

MY  DANISH  SWEETHEART. 
Sergeant  (Adeline).    THE  MASTER  OF 

BEECHWOOD. 
BARBARA'S  MONEY. 
THE  YELLOW  DIAMOND. 
Surtees   (R.    S.).       HANDLEY    CROSS. 

Illustrated. 
MR.     SPONGE'S     SPORTING     TOUR. 

Illustrated. 

ASK  MAMMA.    Illustrated. 
I  Valentine  (Major  E.  S.).    VELDT  AND 

LAAGER. 

Walford  (Mrs.  L.  B.).     MR.  SMITH. 
THE  BABY'S  GRANDMOTHER. 
Wallace  (General  Lew).    BEN-HUR. 
THE  FAIR  GOD. 
Watson  (H.  B.  Marriot).     THE  ADVEN- 

TURERS. 

Weekes  (A.  B.).  PRISONERS  OF  WAR. 
Wells  (H.G.).  THE  STOLEN  BACILLUS. 
*White  (Percy).  A  PASSIONATE 

PILGRIM. 


BS 
2675 


HENSON 

APOSTOLIC 
CHRISTIANITY